. 


Barrett  Biblical  Institute 

ivansttn,  Illisois 


ante* 


THE    HIGHER    INDIVIDUALISM. 

THE    PSYCHOLOGY   OF    RELIGIOUS    EXPE- 
RIENCE. 

HOUGHTON  MFFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON    AND    NEW  YORK 


THE   HIGHER   INDIVIDUALISM 


THEJBEIGHER 
INDIVIDUALISM 


BY 


EDWARD  SCRIBNER  AMES 

// 

ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY  IN  UNIVERSITY 

OF   CHICAGO,    AND  PASTOR    OF  HYDE   PARK    CHURCH 

OF  DISCIPLES   OF   CHRIST,    CHICAGO 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(Cbe  Afcertftie  press  CambriD0e 

1915 


COPYRIGHT,   1915,  BY  EDWARD  SCRIBNER  AMES 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  February  iqiy 


Garrett  Biblical  Institute 

Evansien,  Illinois 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  FATHER 
REV.  LUCIUS  AMES 


PREFACE 

THESE  sermons  .were  delivered  in  Appleton 
Chapel  of  Harvard  University,  during  1912-13 
and  1913-14,  in  the  periods  of  the  author's  service 
as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Preachers  to  the 
University. 

Though  not  conceived  with  reference  to  a  gen- 
eral plan,  the  sermons  express  certain  fundamen- 
tal ideas  characteristic  of  the  constructive  tend- 
ency in  current  religious  thinking.  Among  these 
ideas  are  the  social  nature  of  the  individual  and 
the  value  of  social  service;  the  charm  of  the  nearer 
view  of  Jesus;  the  naturalness  and  accessibility  of 
the  central  religious  experiences,  such  as  regen- 
eration, inspiration,  and  the  mystical  moods;  and 
the  world-old  quest  for  a  more  abundant  and  a 
more  ideal  life. 


CONTENTS 

THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 1 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 21 

THE  JOY  OP  JESUS 43 

THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 65 

REGENERATION 89 

RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 109 

WHAT  is  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 125 

THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  m  RELIGION 145 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particular.  1  Cor. 
xn,27. 

IN  the  depths  of  every  normal,  vigorous  human 
being  is  a  powerful  impulse  to  possess  and  to  pre- 
serve his  own  personality,  to  maintain  his  iden- 
tity, to  be  himself,  to  be  some  one  in  particular. 
It  is  the  expression  of  the  will  to  live,  manifested 
in  acts  of  self-defense  in  the  presence  of  danger, 
and  in  the  self-assertion  of  appetite,  acquisitive- 
ness, curiosity,  and  growth.  This  will  to  live 
gives  rise  to  various  kinds  of  individualism. 

In  its  most  elemental  form  it  is  an  individualism 
self-centered,  grasping,  and  tyrannical.  It  grows 
by  conquest  and  assimilation.  It  is  seen  in  the 
animal  world  among  those  species  which  live  so 
much  in  isolation  and  prey  upon  others,  as  do  the 
lion  and  tiger.  It  is  also  the  law  of  the  jungle  that 
the  herd  and  the  pack  shall  be  ruled  and  led  by 
the  fleetest  runner  and  the  fiercest  fighter.  He 
reigns  supreme  so  long  as  he  can  make  his  kill  and 
subdue  all  rivals.  Much  of  human  society  has 
been  of  that  pattern,  enabling  one  or  a  few  power- 

3 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

ful  men  to  dominate  the  mass.  The  names  of 
Nero  and  Napoleon  have  become  symbols  of  this 
pride  and  lust  of  power.  The  motto  of  such  in- 
dividualism is  that  might  makes  right,  and  its 
philosophy  is  a  crude  doctrine  of  the  superman, 
and  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  But  it  is  an  in- 
dividualism which  everywhere  tends  to  defeat 
itself,  for  any  conspicuous  examples  of  it  create 
envy  and  conflict.  The  same  craving  for  self- 
assertion  and  power  stirs  in  all  classes  of  men  and 
asserts  itself  after  every  tyranny  by  revolution 
and  reprisal,  or  by  some  wiser  and  more  compre- 
hensive individualism.  This  is  true  not  only  in 
the  state,  but  also  in  industry  and  in  all  forms  of 
social  organization.  Children  who  are  made  too 
subservient  to  a  repressive  authority  at  home  are 
likely  to  become  bullies  and  dictators  in  their  play 
and  work. 

Corresponding  to  this  individualism  of  might, 
whether  based  upon  physical  force,  or  caste,  or 
wealth,  there  has  been  throughout  the  history  of 
civilization  an  individualism  of  renunciation,  of 
self-abnegation.  Asceticism  has  this  motive.  Re- 
garding the  world  as  evil  and  human  contact  as 
contaminating,  it  takes  its  precious  self  out  of  so- 
ciety and  away  from  its  contagion.  But  this  kind 

4 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

of  asceticism  is  not  now  so  much  in  vogue.  We  are 
beset  by  a  more  self-indulgent  and  luxurious  re- 
tirement from  the  world  which  exercises  extreme 
care  and  cleverness  in  carrying  away  most  of  the 
comforts  and  few  of  the  disturbances  of  organized 
society.  The  news  service  and  rapid  transit  make 
it  possible  to  satisfy  one's  human  curiosity  and 
one's  creature  cravings  without  bearing  the  respon- 
sibility of  voting  in  the  city  elections  or  doing 
jury  service  or  sharing  at  close  range  the  actual 
life  of  more  than  a  few  persons.  There  is  constant 
protest  against  the  increasing  regulation  of  busi- 
ness and  industry  and  personal  conduct.  Our  per- 
sonal liberty,  it  is  claimed,  is  curtailed  and  en- 
dangered. A  noted  educator  recently  called  upon 
university  men,  especially,  to  exert  their  influence 
against  such  over-regulation.  But  the  average 
man  easily  escapes  that  inconvenience.  In  the 
midst  of  cities,  with  multitudes  of  human  beings 
in  adjacent  spaces,  he  may  yet  experience  the 
deepest  solitude,  a  solitude  which  may  be  more 
complete  than  that  of  state  prisons  or  of  ancient 
monasteries.  For  in  the  monasteries,  at  least, 
there  were  some  communal  tasks  and  some  com- 
mon assemblies.  In  the  modern  city  people  tend 
to  become,  in  large  measure,  mere  physical  ob- 

5 


THE  HIGHEK  INDIVIDUALISM 

jects  to  one  another.  In  the  street  cars  they  glance 
up  indifferently  from  behind  their  newspapers. 
There  is  little  joy  of  comradeship  or  of  mutual 
acquaintance.  In  and  out  of  the  throng  a  man 
may  go  and  come,  abstracting  from  it,  for  a  price, 
whatever  he  craves,  without  binding  himself  to 
any  serious  relationships  or  permanent  associa- 
tions. It  is  the  boarding-house  attitude  toward 
life  so  well  illustrated  in  the  first  act  of  the  play, 
"The  Passing  of  the  Third  Floor  Back." 

One  often  hears  the  theory  of  individualism  cal- 
culated to  fit  this  manner  of  life.  It  is  said  that 
one  should  develop  his  own  personality  and 
should  cultivate  originality  and  novelty  more 
than  is  possible  if  one  identifies  himself  closely 
with  social  organizations  and  institutions. 

Modern  civilization  is  represented  as  vulgar- 
ized by  uniformity  and  monotony.  They  say  it  is 
dominated  by  the  machine,  the  symbol  of  repe- 
tition and  duplication.  A  huge  printing-press  or 
steel  die  produces  innumerable  copies  of  the  same 
design  with  the  utmost  precision  and  speed. 
Everything  is  standardized  and  labeled.  Clothing 
and  furniture  are  ready-made,  and  our  very  bread 
and  butter  bear  the  shape  and  form  of  the  moulds. 
And  human  life  is  not  exempt.  Even  the  public 

6 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

schools  boast  in  some  States,  as  if  it  were  an  end 
in  itself,  that  at  any  moment  of  the  day  the  super- 
intendent knows  that  all  the  thousands  of  pupils 
in  a  given  grade  are  engaged  upon  exactly  the 
same  task.  The  Church,  too,  it  is  alleged,  offers 
a  prescribed  set  of  doctrines  and  a  preconceived 
type  of  "experience"  to  which  all  individuals  are 
required  to  conform. 

In  protest  against  all  this  the  individualist 
clings  to  separateness  and  isolation,  in  order  that 
institutions  may  not  close  in  upon  him  and  dwarf 
his  powers.  He  feels  that  participation  in  organi- 
zations means  suppression,  conformity  to  type,  the 
duplication  of  a  set  pattern.  Nothing  seems  so 
deadening  as  imitation,  as  the  control  of  custom 
and  convention.  I  recently  heard  a  man  inveigh 
against  all  uniforms  for  street-car  men,  messenger 
boys,  and  nurses,  on  the  ground  that  they  obscure 
the  individual,  lessen  his  self-respect  and  swallow 
him  up  in  a  vast  impersonal  system.  His  assump- 
tion was  that  an  institutional  system  is  always 
hard  and  exacting,  demanding  everything  and 
affording  nothing  human  and  ennobling  in  re- 
turn. In  so  far  as  institutions  are  of  that  nature, 
they  do  obscure  and  deaden  individual  talent  and 
initiative,  and  men  will  continue  to  loathe  and  to 

7 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

exploit  them.  But  individualism  which  consists 
in  this  conscious  opposition  and  negation  of 
social  relations  always  tends  to  be  shallow  and 
fantastic  and  unhappy.  It  mistakes  eccentricity 
for  genius,  and  mere  divergence  for  advance- 
ment. 

The  individualism  suggested  by  the  apostle 
Paul  in  his  letter  to  the  Corinthians  is  of  another 
kind.  It  does  not  consist  in  dominating  others,  or 
in  having  as  little  as  possible  in  common  with 
them,  but  it  is  marked  by  the  fullest  and  most  in- 
timate association.  It  is  the  Pauline  conception 
of  being  members  of  the  body  of  Christ.  This 
is  often  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  individual 
members  are  subordinate  to  the  body  as  a  whole, 
as  if  the  emphasis  fell  upon  magnifying  the 
Church.  But  it  is  also  possible  to  discover  here 
a  new  evaluation  of  the  individual  through  his 
function  as  an  organ  of  the  body.  "Now  ye  are 
members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in 
particular."  "Members  in  particular"  describes 
a  higher  individualism,  achieved  through  inter- 
dependence and  mutual  support.  It  is  not  the 
surrender  of  one  to  another,  or  the  monotonous 
repetition  of  the  same  function,  but  it  is  the  ad- 
justment and  development  of  each  part  through 

8 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

its  own  peculiar  relation  to  every  other  part.  This 
enrichment  of  the  individual  by  social  interaction 
has  sometimes  been  overlooked  through  the  direc- 
tion of  attention  to  the  social  whole.  But  it  is  of 
the  highest  significance,  while  realizing  the  impor- 
tance of  the  larger  social  organism,  to  keep  in  mind 
also  the  individual  development  which  each  mem- 
ber attains  in  and  through  it. 

The  simplest  social  transactions  show  that  all 
parties  involved  are  required,  by  the  nature  of  the 
service  they  render  one  another,  to  maintain  their 
individual  character  and  function.  When  a  cus- 
tomer enters  a  store  to  make  a  purchase,  the  clerk 
does  not  become  an  automaton  or  an  imitator. 
It  is  his  business,  hi  answer  to  inquiries,  to  display 
the  goods,  to  make  explanations  in  answer  to 
questions,  to  interrogate  the  customer  in  turn  for 
further  information,  and  to  play  his  own  special 
part  with  judgment  and  initiative.  His  responses 
are  scarcely  the  same  with  any  two  customers 
throughout  the  day,  for  he  is  cooperating  succes- 
sively with  different  persons  to  supply  their  vary- 
ing wants.  And  the  clerk  is  not  the  only  one  who 
responds  to  the  customer's  need.  Beyond  him, 
in  turn,  are  the  cashier  and  the  wrapping  clerk 
and  the  delivery  boy,  and  more  remotely  the  floor 

9 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

walker,  the  manager,  the  buyer,  the  proprietor, 
and  the  rest.  All  cooperate  to  serve  the  customer, 
yet  no  two  of  them  perform  the  same  act.  The 
deed  of  each  is  a  signal  for  a  different  deed  by  the 
next  in  line  through  the  entire  system. 

The  contribution  of  team  play  to  the  individu- 
alism of  all  members  of  the  team  illustrates  the 
same  principle.  We  have  magnified  team  work  as 
if  any  particular  player  were  quite  lost  in  the 
larger  unit.  But  in  fact  no  member  surrenders 
his  individuality.  The  very  ground  of  his  success 
is  to  do  with  all  his  might  his  particular  duty,  and 
that  duty  is  different  from  the  duty  of  any  other. 
Every  man  must  keep  his  eye  on  the  ball,  but  with 
a  view  to  a  possible  course  of  action  determined 
by  his  own  unique  position  and  function.  So  indi- 
vidualistic do  the  members  of  the  most  efficient 
teams  become  that  expertness  in  one  place  is 
scarcely  any  guaranty  of  success  in  another.  In- 
deed, —  and  this  proves  the  utter  refinement  of 
individualism  within  a  developed  social  group,  — 
the  very  power  and  technique  which  a  man  at- 
tains in  a  given  position  often  literally  unfits  him 
for  like  success  in  any  other  position  in  his  group. 
The  tendency  is  for  the  members  of  the  team  to 
become  more  and  more  differentiated  from  one 

10 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

another  and  at  the  same  time  mutually  more  in- 
terdependent. 

The  same  condition  obtains  in  modern  society, 
whose  great  men  are  the  specialists,  the  experts. 
They  are  representatives  of  the  highest  individu- 
alism. They  develop  only  in  a  highly  organized 
social  order  and  they  cannot  function  apart  from 
it.  They  are  members  of  the  corporate  organism, 
and  they  are  members  in  particular.  When  a  man 
hi  an  undeveloped  society  dies,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
find  another  man  to  take  his  place;  but  when  a 
man  of  the  higher  civilization  dies,  his  personality 
cannot  be  replaced.  Other  men  may  bear  the 
same  official  title  and  the  same  insignia  of  honor, 
but  they  cannot  be  what  the  first  man  was.  Not 
only  our  poets  and  artists  and  inventors,  but  our 
statesmen  and  our  merchants  and  our  soldiers, 
have  been  unique  and  original.  This  is  not  be- 
cause they  stood  aloof  from  their  time  and  from 
their  fellows,  but  precisely  because  they  entered 
so  deeply  into  the  common  life  and  fulfilled  their 
manifold  relations  so  completely.  No  men  have 
been  at  once  such  typical  and  such  exceptional 
Americans  as  Ben  Franklin  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. They  cannot  be  thought  of  as  trying  to 
make  themselves  different.  On  the  contrary  they 

11 


were  always  losing  themselves  in  the  common 
cause.  They  were  literally  the  servants  of  all,  and 
just  by  virtue  of  serving  all  their  countrymen  they 
developed  many-sided,  profoundly  distinguished 
characters. 

The  same  great  law  was  fulfilled  in  the  life  of 
Jesus,  and  is  the  source  of  his  inexhaustible  at- 
tractiveness and  charm.  There  is  always  some- 
thing wonderfully  appealing  yet  elusive  about  the 
personality  of  Jesus.  He  was  not  like  any  one 
else,  and  yet  he  was  like  everybody.  His  words 
were  so  true  to  human  experience  that  they  might 
have  been  said  by  any  one.  Yet  their  very 
obviousness  and  convincing  quality  made  them 
different,  added  something  indescribable  and 
immeasurable,  which  distinguished  him  from  his 
predecessors,  from  his  disciples,  and  from  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  before  and  since  his  time.  The 
people  who  heard  him  were  astonished  at  his  doc- 
trine, and  the  people  of  our  own  time  still  marvel 
at  his  simple  yet  fathomless  words.  There  he 
stands  a  plain  peasant  of  Galilee,  a  carpenter's  son, 
a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners,  speaking  from 
the  clear  pictures  of  life  mirrored  in  his  pure,  deep 
soul.  No  one  can  misunderstand  them  and  no  one 
can  exhaust  their  meaning.  He  is  the  embodiment 

12 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

of  the  genius  of  his  people,  the  focus  of  a  world  of 
spiritual  forces  and  the  radiating  center  of  crea- 
tive moral  energy  and  truth. 

Some  one  has  suggested  that  the  personality  of 
different  men  might  be  represented  by  a  great 
system  of  electric  lamps.  When  the  current  is 
turned  on  to  represent  a  given  man,  it  not  only 
illuminates  the  bulb  which  bears  his  name,  but  a 
glow  lightens  all  the  lamps  which  designate  the 
lives  interwoven  with  his  own.  Thus  each  per- 
son's character  traces  its  own  figure,  no  one  being 
entirely  limited  to  a  single  point,  while  the  greatest 
individuals  extend  circles  upon  circles,  and  lines 
upon  lines  of  light. 

An  external  account  of  a  man's  lineage  and 
training  may  give  only  slight  clues  to  the  fullness 
and  complexity  of  his  nature.  The  living  world  of 
his  imagination,  his  interior  responsiveness  to  life, 
may  enfold  less  intimately  the  companion  at  his 
side  than  it  does  some  sage  of  the  distant  past  or 
the  dream  face  of  some  poet's  song.  The  whole 
environment  is  therefore  different  for  various  per- 
sons. No  two  strike  life  at  the  same  angle  and  no 
two  get  the  same  response.  The  more  complex 
society  becomes,  the  greater  are  the  variations 
within  this  ulterior,  spiritual  experience.  Any 

13 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

outward  uniformities  which  convenience  and  com- 
fort may  impose  for  the  general  good  do  not  lessen 
this  larger  freedom.  Often  they  enhance  it,  as 
when  the  Government  fixes  a  uniform  postal  rate 
for  great  and  small  citizens  alike,  and  thereby 
opens  thoroughfares  for  new  movements  of  spirit- 
ual energy.  In  these  higher  ranges  of  association 
no  individual  is  a  mere  copy  of  any  other.  Imita- 
tion is  impossible  not  only  because  of  difference 
in  inherited  capacity,  but  because  a  living  organ- 
ism differentiates  all  its  members  by  the  functions 
they  perform.  The  two  hands  cannot  wear  the 
same  glove.  The  two  ears  experience  varying  in- 
tensity of  sound.  The  two  eyes  receive  different 
rays  of  light. 

There  are  sayings  of  Jesus  which  indicate 
something  more  than  imitation  as  the  principle 
of  his  fellowship.  He  said,  "I  call  you  no  longer 
servants  but  friends,"  and  the  very  essence  of 
friendship  is  the  interplay  of  minds  not  entirely 
alike,  a  real  give-and-take  of  experience.  That 
friendship  grew  with  the  tasks  the  disciples  per- 
formed and  with  the  dangers  and  perplexities 
they  confronted,  yet  each  bore  his  own  cross  and 
was  responsible  for  the  investment  of  his  peculiar 
talents. 

14 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

But  it  is  especially  in  the  letters  of  the  apostle 
Paul  that  this  higher  individualism  receives  its 
fullest  religious  exemplification  and  interpreta- 
tion. To  him  the  followers  of  Christ  are  fused  into 
a  living  body,  a  spiritual  society,  an  ideal  king- 
dom. Such  a  society  became  actual  and  visible  in 
every  city  of  the  Roman  world  where  he  gathered 
converts  and  organized  a  church.  Each  group  was 
in  miniature  and  ideally  what  all  of  them  together 
were  conceived  to  be  in  their  united,  corporate 
character.  Each  was  the  symbol  of  the  body  of 
Christ  within  which  every  member  had  his  place 
and  function.  These  functions  were  the  natural 
divisions  of  labor,  such  as  administration,  teach- 
ing, preaching,  and  healing.  And  the  apostle  vir- 
tually took  up  all  natural,  social  relations  into 
this  religious  life,  for  he  exhorts  husbands  and 
wives,  children  and  servants  and  masters  and  busi- 
ness men,  to  fulfill  their  duties  as  religious  obli- 
gations, "as  unto  the  Lord."  Nothing  could  be 
clearer  than  his  insistence  upon  the  community 
of  interest  which  all  share  and  the  distinctness 
and  identity  of  each  member.  The  body  is  one 
organism,  animated  by  one  spirit.  The  individ- 
ualism which  the  members  attain  is  not  that  of 
independence  of  each  other,  "for  the  eye  cannot 

15 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

say  unto  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee."  Nor 
is  it  an  individualism  in  which  one  member  ignores 
or  disdains  the  others,  "for  the  body  is  not  one 
member,  but  many." 

The  Church  thus  conceived  is  a  great  dynamic 
society  organized  to  overcome  the  evil  forces  of 
the  world,  to  battle  against  spiritual  wickedness 
and  the  powers  of  darkness.  In  its  warfare  each 
member  has  his  duty  to  perform.  To  be  efficient 
he  must  learn  to  work  with  others,  to  develop 
the  special  function  for  which  he  is  fitted,  and 
to  bear  whatever  part  the  struggle  may  thrust 
upon  him.  It  is  only  by  this  sense  of  organic 
relation  to  the  whole  reality  of  life  that  a  man 
feels  his  essential  worth  and  dignity.  In  some 
sense  every  moral  person  does  feel  his  conduct 
to  have  absolute  and  final  value.  The  teacher, 
at  his  best,  has  a  sense  that  his  work  is  of 
crucial  significance.  To  impart  an  untruth  or  a 
flippant  word  when  an  earnest,  serious  message  is 
demanded,  is  to  break  faith  with  the  universe. 
Whereas  to  utter  a  tested  and  illuminating  truth 
is  to  become  a  co-worker  with  the  soul  of  things 
and  to  feel  the  pull  of  the  anchor  on  the  solid  rock. 

When  the  captain  of  a  great  ship  stands  on  the 
bridge  in  the  hour  of  danger,  he  is  conscious  that 

16 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

destiny  hangs  upon  his  quick  perception  and  de- 
cision. Human  beings  are  aboard  who  have 
entrusted  themselves  to  his  care.  No  one  else  can 
take  his  place  or  answer  for  his  deed.  He  stands 
there  with  the  weight  of  the  world  upon  him.  It 
is  the  moment  which  has  haunted  his  imagination 
ever  since  he  went  to  sea.  In  the  crisis  of  events 
everything  is  in  his  hand.  His  life  is  magnified, 
not  because  he  is  alone,  but  because  he  is  the  focus 
of  a  vast  system  of  human  values  and  forces  of 
nature.  To  succeed  at  his  task  in  such  an  hour  is 
to  be  the  bearer  of  life  to  the  world;  but  to  fail  is 
to  be  overwhelmed  in  the  storm  and  darkness. 

In  similar  manner  ordinary  persons  engaged 
in  the  real  work  of  life  have  the  thrill  and  the 
stress  of  great  responsibility  by  virtue  of  their 
participation  in  a  complex  system  of  industry  or 
administration.  It  is  appalling  to  realize  what 
trusts  are  committed  to  the  obscure  railway 
switchman,  the  turn  of  whose  hand,  or  whose  mis- 
judgment  of  a  signal,  may  wreck  a  train.  Or  think 
what  decrees  of  fate  lie  in  a  mother's  care  or 
neglect  of  her  child. 

Yet  in  their  deepest  natures  men  crave  this 
tang  and  terror  of  real  life.  They  cannot  be  satis- 
fied apart  from  the  great  social  organism.  Nothing 

17 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

is  so  gruesome  as  an  eye  or  a  hand  separated  from 
the  body,  and  every  sane  man  shudders  to  think 
of  himself  in  lonely  and  useless  isolation.  That  is 
the  pang  of  the  lost.  Hell  is  the  place  of  outer 
darkness  where  everything  is  swallowed  up  in 
chaos  and  night,  and  the  souls  of  the  damned 
wander  in  perpetual  solitude. 

Only  a  little  less  severe  punishment  is  it  to  have 
instruments  and  tools  and  never  be  allowed  to 
lay  one's  hand  to  their  real  use  in  the  world.  To 
work  at  a  telegraph  key  which  is  never  connected 
with  the  actual  wires,  or  to  speak  into  a  discon- 
nected telephone,  or,  like  a  child,  to  hold  the 
ends  of  the  reins  where  one  cannot  really  guide 
the  horses,  is  to  suffer  utter  emptiness  and  de- 
tachment. 

It  is  on  this  account  that  men  really  love  their 
uniforms.  The  braid  and  buttons  are  signs  of 
membership  in  an  order.  They  mean  that  one 
has  a  place  on  life's  team.  He  counts  in  the  cal- 
culations of  other  men,  and  in  the  scrimmage 
which  is  sure  to  come  he  will  feel  the  strain  and 
have  the  glorious  sense  of  helping  in  the  struggle. 

The  apostle  Paul  summons  men  into  the  great 
spiritual  brotherhood  of  Christian  love  and  ser- 
vice. He  invites  them  into  a  bondage  which  is  the 

18 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

highest  freedom.  He  knew  that  just  laws  are  the 
means  of  power  to'  every  one  who  obeys  them. 
Their  yoke  is  easy  and  their  burden  is  light.  It  is 
in  the  fellowship  of  mutual  service  that  men  are 
losing  their  narrow  and  lesser  selves  and  finding 
their  larger  and  diviner  selves.  He  that  findeth 
his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  in 
the  service  of  Christ  and  his  fellow  man,  shall 
surely  find  it. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

Then  shall  the  righteous  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we 
thee  an  hungred,  and  fed  thee  ?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink  ? 
When  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  or  naked,  and 
clothed  thee  ?  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came 
unto  thee  ?  And  the  King  shall  answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of 
these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.  Mail,  xxv,  87-40. 

SUCCESSIVE  periods  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
have  emphasized  different  ideals  of  Christianity. 
The  first  century  was  peculiarly  the  age  of  the 
martyrs.  Paganism  regarded  the  humble  disciples 
of  Jesus  as  traitors  to  the  emperor,  and  hunted 
them  to  the  death  as  criminals.  The  Church, 
in  turn,  non-militant  and  meek,  welcomed  every 
opportunity  to  witness  her  faith  by  patient 
suffering,  through  every  persecution.  By  the 
exigencies  of  her  conflict,  the  apostles  became 
martyrs  like  their  master.  The  lowliest  followers 
coveted  the  same  fate.  The  fury  of  the  old  order 
was  met  by  the  eager  surrender  of  the  new  reli- 
gion. The  greater  the  Roman  thirst  for  their 
blood,  the  readier  were  the  Christians  to  die, 
until  the  martyrs  became  the  despair  of  the 
Caesars  and  the  ideal  of  the  Church. 

23 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

In  the  fourth  century  asceticism  prevailed. 
Estrangement  from  the  natural  life  of  society 
and  contemplation  of  heavenly  existence  with- 
drew men  from  the  world.  Solitude  was  sought 
as  escape  from  temptation  and  as  opportunity 
for  meditation  and  self-denial.  Her  first  contact 
with  government,  learning,  and  wealth  made  the 
Church  fearful  and  distrustful.  Consequently  she 
exalted  the  life  of  renunciation  and  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  future. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  the  Christian  warrior, 
the  valiant  knight  of  the  crusades,  came  forward 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church.  Romantic 
and  visionary  as  they  were,  the  crusaders  roused 
the  latent  energy  of  Christendom  and  furnished 
opportunity  for  action  and  for  the  exercise  of  the 
imagination.  The  knight  was  a  strange  blending 
of  warlike  savagery  and  Christian  gentleness,  but 
he  became  just  on  that  account,  the  type  and 
symbol  of  religion  in  his  time. 

In  similar  sharp  definition  stands  out  the  mys- 
tic of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  is  projected  on 
the  rigid  background  of  ecclesiasticism  and  insti- 
tutionalised. He  insists  upon  direct  and  immedi- 
ate access  to  God  without  priest  or  pope.  His 
character  is  fashioned  in  reaction  against  tradi- 

24 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

tion  and  in  the  quest  for  freedom  and  direct  con- 
tact with  the  divine.  Likewise  the  theologian  is 
the  conspicuous  Christian  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  is  the  exponent  of  a  book  religion  over 
against  what  he  regards  as  the  human  authority 
of  the  Church  and  the  vagaries  of  the  inner  light. 
To  him  the  great  saints  are  the  intellectual  in- 
terpreters of  the  faith,  the  expounders  of  the 
Scriptures  and  the  creed.  Correct  belief  becomes 
the  standard  of  orthodoxy,  and  every  candidate 
for  membership  in  the  Church,  from  the  least  to 
the  greatest,  is  examined  with  reference  to  his  rea- 
sons for  the  faith  that  is  in  him. 

And  now  in  this  twentieth  century  the  Chris- 
tian ideal  is  undergoing  another  transformation. 
The  theological  saint  is  losing  prestige.  His 
creeds  are  discredited  by  greater  knowledge  and 
by  broader  vision.  As  the  image  of  the  theologian 
dissolves  and  fades  from  view,  there  is  emerging 
the  ideal  of  the  social  worker.  He  is  becoming 
typical  of  the  Christianity  of^our  day.  This  is 
apparent  in  the  official,  representative  acts  of 
the  Church.  All  of  the  important  denominations 
have  appointed  commissions  on  social  service,  and 
have  received  their  recommendations  with  enthu- 
siasm. The  schools  for  ministerial  education  have 

25 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

introduced  courses  in  sociology.  The  Church  has 
adopted  a  social  service  programme  in  foreign 
missions,  in  city  parishes,  and,  more  recently,  in 
rural  communities.  This  means  turning  attention 
to  the  great  central  problem  of  human  welfare 
with  unprecedented  energy  and  intelligence.  Re- 
ligion has  a  new  concern  for  health.  It  is  enlisted 
to  prevent  disease  as  well  as  to  cure  and  nurse  the 
sick.  The  Church  is  awakening  to  its  duty  in 
the  campaigns  against  child  labor,  white  slavery, 
alcoholism,  prison  abuses,  corruption  in  politics 
and  every  form  of  social  injustice.  Ministers  are 
becoming  the  advocates  of  educational  reforms, 
the  extension  of  playgrounds,  better  housing,  the 
advancement  of  woman,  international  peace,  and 
the  science  of  eugenics. 

But  in  all  the  struggle  for  social  welfare  there 
remains  a  lingering,  deep-seated  doubt  whether 
this  is  genuinely  religious  work.  Shall  we,  by  this 
programme  continue  to  have  a  truly  spiritual 
religion?  Will  it  generate  vital,  personal  reli- 
gion? Or  has  the  Church  been  led  to  take  up 
functions  which  may  be  exercised  in  an  external, 
mechanical  way?  Some  fear  that  it  is  another 
form  of  mere  "works"  which  may  be  carried  on 
without  faith.  The  social  settlement,  they  say, 

26 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

has  sometimes  been  remote  from  the  Church.  It 
has  seldom  conducted  religious  services,  or  re- 
quired of  its  workers  any  profession  of  faith. 
Others  believe  that  religion  has  found  a  new 
dynamic  in  social  service,  and  that  a  new  faith 
and  a  new  fervor  are  springing  from  it.  It  is  my 
conviction  that  the  latter  are  right.  I  wish  to 
emphasize  some  of  the  religious  elements  in  these 
new  activities  of  the  churches. 

First,  this  practical,  social  Christianity  is  the 
most  Biblical  of  all  the  historical  forms.  Other 
/  ideals,  those  of  the  martyr,  the  monk,  the  knight, 
the  mystic,  the  theologian,  have  been  able  to  cite 
certain  texts  of  Scripture  in  their  own  behalf.  It 
is  true  that  blessings  are  pronounced  upon  the 
persecuted  and  upon  those  who  love  not  the  world. 
There  are  also  texts  in  which  we  are  exhorted  to 
have  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  us.  But  the 
central  doctrine  of  Scripture  is  that  Christians  are 
finally  known  and  tested  by  their  fruits.  We  enter 
the  kingdom,  not  by  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  but  by 
doing  his  will;  not  by  repeating  prayers  in  his 
name  so  much  as  by  feeding  the  hungry,  clothing 
the  naked,  visiting  the  sick  and  the  imprisoned. 
"What  does  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do 
justice,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 

27 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

thy  God?'*  "Pure  religion  and  undefiled  is  to 
visit  the  fatherless  and  the  widows  in  their  afflic- 
tion." The  Good  Samaritan  was  a  more  typical 
New  Testament  Christian  than  the  priest  or  the 
Levite,  and  he  is  more  typical  now  than  the  mystic 
or  the  theologian. 

The  Christian  of  this  twentieth  century  is  a 
more  normal  and  natural  Christian  than  the  mar- 
tyr or  monk,  the  crusader  or  the  expounder  of 
creeds.  Each  of  them  was  the  result  of  some  pecul- 
iar strain  or  wrench  which  Christianity  suffered 
in  its  contact  with  the  world.  To-day  for  the  first 
time  in  two  thousand  years  Christianity  stands 
free  from  such  cramping  and  deforming  influences. 
The  persecutions  have  ceased.  The  Church  is  no 
longer  fleeing  from  the  world.  Christianity  is  at 
home  on  the  earth  and  in  the  flesh  and  is  on  terms 
of  the  finest  cooperation  with  the  great  forces  of 
society.  "The  world,"  in  the  sense  of  the  base 
and  vicious  things  of  life,  has  lost  too  much  of  its 
illusion  and  is  too  well  understood  to  frighten  any 
intelligent  Christian  into  solitude.  The  martyr 
and  the  monk  did  not  have  the  resources  and  the 
mastery  of  life  which  Christian  people  now  pos- 
sess. The  crusader  and  the  mystic  were  the  prod- 
ucts of  a  certain  vague  and  restless  dreaming 

28 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

which  science  and  experience  have  in  large  part 
dispelled. 

Even  the  theologian  of  the  old  school  was  the 
result  of  an  imperfect  and  partial  view  of  life. 
The  age  in  which  he  lived  regarded  the  Bible  as 
the  direct  and  perfect  revelation  of  the  divine  will. 
There  was  no  sufficient  understanding  of  the 
historic  process  by  which  the  Scriptures  had  been 
produced.  There  was  no  adequate  appreciation 
of  that  most  important  fact,  that  every  system  of 
theology  is  an  interpretation,  and  that  all  inter- 
pretation involves  a  point  of  view.  It  has  re- 
mained for  recent  thought  to  realize  with  any  full- 
ness that  the  Biblical  literature  has  a  point  of 
view  within  itself  and  that  this  point  of  view  is 
man's  struggle  for  a  larger  life.  It  is  the  will  to 
live,  to  have  life,  and  to  have  it  more  abundantly, 
which  constitutes  the  organizing,  dynamic  im- 
pulse of  the  experiences  which  the  Scriptures  re- 
cord. In  all  other  periods  religion  has  been  forced 
to  content  itself  with  a  partial  and  one-sided  de- 
velopment of  human  nature,  often  fanatical  and 
doctrinaire.  For  the  first  time  the  Church  is  con- 
sistently and  conscientiously  devoting  itself  to 
a  virile,  practical,  reasonable,  and  yet  spiritual 
ideal  of  what  a  Christian  life  should  be.  Chris- 

29 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

tianity  has  just  begun  to  be  herself  without  con- 
straint or  artifice,  and  in  this  happy  emancipa- 
tion she  sees  more  clearly  than  ever  before  that  a 
spiritualized  social  order  is  the  vision  and  goal  of 
New  Testament  Christianity. 

Jesus  was  constantly  insisting  that  human  life 
in  its  highest  form  is  the  true  end  of  his  religion. 
The  Sabbath  —  the  symbol  and  embodiment  of 
all  ceremonial  —  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man, 
and  man  should  not  be  subordinated  to  it  nor  bur- 
dened by  it.  The  lowest  and  most  sinful  person  is 
of  measureless  value,  and  woe  to  any  one  who  dis- 
regards or  injures  him.  The  whole  world's  wealth 
and  power  are  worthless  compared  with  one  hu- 
man soul.  The  truth  itself  is  for  man.  It  is  to 
make  him  free.  In  every  way  the  religion  of  Jesus 
magnifies  as  its  fundamental  purpose  the  rescue 
and  the  culture  of  men.  It  seeks  and  saves  the 
lost  and  it  enriches  those  "who  are  neither  poor, 
ignorant,  nor  depraved."  At  its  heart  it  is  a  re- 
ligion for  making  and  remaking  men,  for  cultivat- 
ing in  them  sympathy,  forbearance,  and  mutual 
helpfulness  in  the  process  of  building  the  ideal 
society  which  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Now  it  is  precisely  this  ideal  which  is  fascinating 
the  modern  mind.  It  has  been  the  objective  of 

30 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

our  political  revolutions,  struggling  for  democ- 
racy; and  of  our  industrial  revolutions,  throwing 
off  the  burdens  of  toil;  and  it  is  the  goal  of  our 
manifold  uplift  movements  at  the  present  time. 
We  are  getting  the  idea  of  using  wealth  to  make 
better  men.  Government  is  beginning  to  be  re- 
garded not  as  an  agency  for  the  glorification  of 
officials  or  for  the  maintenance  of  laws,  but  as  an 
instrument  for  ameliorating  and  improving  the 
conditions  of  human  life.  Our  dramatists  are  pre- 
senting the  claims  of  democracy  and  brother- 
hood. Our  great  cities  have  long  been  accustomed 
to  various  expositions,  —  horse  shows,  dog  shows, 
flower  shows,  automobile  shows,  —  but  at  last  we 
have  human  welfare  exhibits.  The  ancient  stream 
of  learning,  gathered  into  the  reservoirs  of  the  in- 
stitutions of  culture,  and  flowing  into  the  wonder- 
ful achievements  of  modern  science,  is  finally  dis- 
covering that  along  with  many  other  subjects 
"the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man."  We  begin 
to  realize  the  reproach  implied  in  the  statement  of 
a  recent  writer  on  ethics  that  "the  things  of  great- 
est importance  to  human  life  have  scarcely  been 
touched  as  yet  by  science."  He  points  out  that 
"we  know  more  about  astrophysics  than  about 
health  and  disease;  more  about  waste  in  steam 

31 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

power  than  about  waste  in  foods,  or  in  education; 
more  about  classical  archaeology  than  about  the 
actual  causes  of  poverty,  alcoholism,  prostitution, 
and  childlessness." 

We  are  cultivating  new  extensions  of  sympa- 
thetic imagination.  Any  of  us  feels  a  deep  shud- 
der when  we  read  the  account  of  a  child  being 
hurt  to  death  under  a  carelessly  driven  car,  and 
we  are  beginning  to  feel  revulsion  that  hundreds 
of  little  children  should  be  stunted  and  maimed 
under  existing  conditions  of  child  labor.  We  have 
always  been  horrified  by  the  press  reports  of  in- 
dividual train  wrecks,  but  we  are  learning  to  in- 
terpret the  annual  statistics  of  railroad  and  indus- 
trial accidents  with  something  of  the  same  horror 
and  indignation.  In  the  Iroquois  Theater  fire  in 
Chicago,  six  hundred  lost  their  lives.  The  news- 
papers flamed  with  the  report.  In  that  same 
month  and  in  each  month  since,  more  than  a 
thousand  people  died  from  preventable  diseases 
in  that  city.  Formerly  these  statistics  were 
quietly  tabulated  by  the  officials  and  filed  away 
in  obscure  records.  But  now  these  shocking  facts 
are  bulletined  throughout  the  city  and  the  news- 
papers print  conspicuously  every  morning  warn- 
ings and  instructions  concerning  health.  These 

32 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

humane  interests  of  our  time  are  identical  with  the 
central  purpose  of  Christianity.  Little  is  gained 
by  attempting  to  determine  whether  the  religion 
of  Jesus  is  altogether  responsible  for  this  new 
spirit.  It  is  far  more  important  to  appreciate  the 
fact  that  these  movements  are  the  fulfillment  of 
the  best  hope  and  endeavor  of  the  Church  from  its 
beginning.  They  are  religious  in  the  deepest 
sense.  They  are  Christian  in  the  most  vital  man- 
ner. When  the  Church  turns  its  energies  into  such 
channels,  it  gains  the  consciousness  of  laboring 
at  its  natural,  vital  task.  It  becomes  a  world- 
transforming  power  not  from  without  but  from 
within;  not  by  alien  but  by  resident  forces;  not  by 
magic  or  superstition  but  by  law  and  light. 

The  second  thing  I  wish  to  emphasize  is  the 
fact  that  social  service  generates  religious  feel- 
ing and  conviction.  Not  only  do  these  modern 
welfare  movements  constitute  the  fruits,  the 
good  works  which  Christianity  requires  as  the 
test  of  genuine  religion,  but  they  also  beget  that 
inner  disposition  of  the  heart  which  has  been 
magnified  by  evangelical  Christianity. 

It  is  a  fundamental  discovery  of  modern  psy- 
chology that  emotion  accompanies  voluntary 
activity.  Feeling  is  generated  by  conduct.  It 

33 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

springs  also  from  the  anticipatory  rehearsal  of 
experiences.  When  we  run  over  in  imagination 
the  dangers  of  an  approaching  journey  or  the 
pleasures  of  a  promised  vacation,  we  are  in  fact 
living  through  the  events  themselves.  We  think 
of  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  various  situations  and 
we  act  out  incipiently,  in  truncated  gestures  and 
expressions,  the  parts  we  shall  actually  play. 
Accompanying  this  preliminary  activity  there  is 
generated  the  emotional  state  appropriate  to  it. 
The  intensity  of  the  emotion  is  in  direct  relation 
to  the  vividness  and  tension  of  the  imagined  ex- 
perience. 

By  this  principle  we  may  understand  more 
fully  the  conditions  and  the  processes  by  which 
religious  awakenings  occur.  All  spiritual  awaken- 
ing, every  sound  conversion,  as  it  is  called,  has  a 
history.  Often  it  is  only  the  climax  that  is  noted, 
but  the  backlying  conditions  are  equally  impor- 
tant. In  the  days  of  the  great  revivals  and  acute 
conversions,  an  individual  was  prepared  for  the 
emotional  crisis  by  a  series  of  vivid,  imaginative 
experiences.  He  was  made  to  realize  his  evil  con- 
duct. He  was  drawn  along  the  path  of  his  wick- 
edness until  he  felt  the  shame  and  disgrace  of  it. 
Then  he  was  taken  in  reflection  through  the  way 

34 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   SOCIAL  SERVICE 

of  the  righteous  and  led  to  taste  its  peace  and 
blessedness.  Thus  by  an  intense,  often  prolonged, 
conflict  of  contrasted  activities  and  emotions, 
sinners  were  launched  with  mighty  impetus,  into 
the  religious  life.  That  became  an  unforgettable 
event.  It  loomed  like  a  towering  mountain-top 
above  all  ordinary  moments. 

But  our  matter-of-fact  age  has  grown  some- 
what doubtful  of  that  process.  It  seems  artifi- 
cial. Many  persons  sought  it  and  never  attained 
it.  We  now  know  that  different  types  of  persons 
"get  religion"  in  different  ways.  It  is  more  emo- 
tional for  some  than  for  others.  The  differences 
are  quite  comparable  to  those  among  people  en- 
tering upon  their  profession  or  making  changes  in 
business.  Out  of  a  group  of  artists  one  finds  some 
were  started  in  their  career  by  an  emotional  crisis, 
others  by  the  influence  of  companionship,  others 
by  a  gradual  training  and  growth.  But  in  the  end 
they  are  all  artists,  masters  of  their  technique, 
loyal  to  their  tasks  and  warmed  by  the  joy  and 
satisfaction  of  achievement.  The  same  is  true  of 
religious  people.  Just  as  persons  become  artistic 
by  the  direction  of  native  talent  into  artistic  ac- 
tivities, so  persons  become  religious  by  participa- 
tion in  religious  enterprises. 

35 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

To  share  in  the  great  characteristic  human  ac- 
tivities is  to  experience  the  fundamental  human 
emotions.  When  a  bachelor  friend  of  mine  mar- 
ried, he  had  no  appreciation  of  children.  He  sim- 
ply did  not  see  them.  But  when  his  own  child  was 
born  his  eyes  were  opened  to  the  charms  of  child- 
hood. He  entered  into  a  new  world  and  was  as 
completely  transformed  in  his  sympathies  and 
views  of  life  as  if  he  had  been  given  a  new  nervous 
system. 

A  Japanese  gentleman,  not  a  Christian,  was 
visiting  Hull  House  one  day.  He  saw  the  resi- 
dents from  the  neighborhood  passing  in  and  out 
—  foreigners  of  different  nationalities,  ragged 
little  children,  worn  and  troubled  women,  and 
humble  laborers.  All  came  with  confidence, 
found  a  moment  of  companionship,  secured  a 
book,  received  a  bit  of  neighborly  advice,  or  some 
other  help,  and  went  their  way  again.  Return- 
ing to  the  busy  streets,  in  the  midst  of  the  noise 
and  throngs,  the  Japanese  suddenly  plucked  the 
sleeve  of  his  American  companion  and  in  a  tone 
of  discovery,  referring  to  the  scene  he  had  wit- 
nessed, said:  "Ah,  that  is  what  you  mean  by  the 
Christian  spirit!" 

In  principle  the  spirit  of  religion  is  generated 
36 


precisely  as  the  spirit  of  a  game.  If  one  does  not 
play  golf,  the  game  lies  quite  outside  one's  feeling. 
The  actions  of  the  players  are  uninteresting  and, 
maybe,  entirely  absurd.  The  golf  literature  and 
the  golf  symbols  are  unattractive  and  meaning- 
less. But  if  one  mingles  with  enthusiasts  for  the 
game,  hears  it  praised  by  intelligent  men,  and  al- 
lows himself  to  be  drawn  into  a  few  games  under 
favorable  circumstances,  then  his  interest  kindles, 
his  emotions  stir,  and  he  becomes  a  convert  to 
golf.  He  may  be  surprised  at  himself,  at  his  seem- 
ing passivity  in  the  experience.  He  scarcely 
knows  how  the  change  took  place,  but  his  eager 
devotion  and  his  increasing  interest  in  all  that 
belongs  to  his  new  sport  are  sufficient  evidence  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  change  wrought  in  him. 

Is  not  the  same  principle  operative  in  religion? 
When  one  engages  in  its  social  enterprises,  its 
benevolences,  its  missions,  its  humanitarian  en- 
deavors, under  favorable  circumstances,  does  not 
one  feel  the  kindling  idealism  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  true  religious  spirit?  Perhaps  if  the  Church 
were  as  determined  and  resourceful  in  cultivating 
the  active  habits  of  social  service,  as  she  has 
been  in  conducting  "revivals,"  the  flame  of  the 
religious  life  would  leap  higher  than  ever  before 

37 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

and  be  far  more  illuminating.  Jesus  summoned 
men  to  follow  Him  in  his  life  of  service.  Their 
willingness  to  join  Him  in  the  good  deeds  He 
wrought  was  enough  to  admit  them  to  his  com- 
pany. He  trusted  this  practical  test  to  the  ut- 
most. He  formulated  the  principle  of  a  sane  and 
objective  challenge  when  He  said,  "He  that  wills 
to  do  God's  will,  shall  know  of  the  doctrine." 

The  third  fact  I  briefly  mention  is  that  by  its 
devotion  to  social  service  Christianity  is  gain- 
ing a  new  apologetic  —  an  apologetic  which  the 
man  in  the  street  may  quickly  comprehend.  The 
practical  programme  of  religion  combines  with 
other  influences  to  supplant  the  older  theoreti- 
cal and  dogmatic  vindications  of  Christianity. 
We  are  no  longer  acutely  convinced  and  persua- 
ded by  arguments  concerning  the  fundamentals 
of  the  older  theology  —  miracles,  inspiration, 
future  punishment,  and  the  rest;  but  we  are  sen- 
sitive and  responsive  to  a  religion  which  opens 
schools  in  India,  hospitals  in  China,  and  neighbor- 
hood centers  along  the  coast  of  Labrador  —  which 
creates  institutions  of  learning,  of  health,  of  com- 
radeship and  hope  in  all  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth. 

Besides,  the  layman  is  able  to  appreciate  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

service  which  he  can  render  in  religion  so  applied. 
Heretofore  the  layman  has  often  hesitated  to 
pass  judgment  or  to  engage  in  activities  in  the 
sphere  of  religion  because  it  seemed  to  belong  to 
the  clergy.  But  the  new  direction  of  effort  has 
made  secular  talents  sacred  by  devoting  them  to 
noble  ends.  All  labor  which  improves  society, 
lessens  its  injustice,  increases  its  happiness  and 
refinement  is  thereby  sanctified.  In  this  larger 
service  of  man,  the  lawyer,  the  teacher,  the  me- 
chanic finds  his  task  idealized  and  spiritualized. 
Even  the  minister  discovers  that  he  can  no  longer 
adequately  fulfill  his  office  by  the  disciplines 
which  have  conventionally  equipped  the  clergy- 
man. He  is  therefore  seeking  efficiency  and  au- 
thority for  his  calling  through  what  have  long 
been  regarded  as  the  secular  sciences  of  medicine, 
pedagogy,  civics,  and  business  administration. 
Surely,  in  a  time  when  churchmen  are  striving 
for  the  skill  of  lay  experts,  those  experts  should 
be  better  able  to  realize  how  well  equipped  they 
are  by  means  of  their  own  specialities,  to  work  the 
works  of  God. 

It  is  these  works  of  humanitarian  Christianity 
which  are  teaching  the  masses  of  the  people  the 
true  understanding  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  drawing 

39 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

them  together  in  a  great  spiritual  comradeship. 
No  doctrinal  interpretation  or  defense  is  so  con- 
vincing as  actual  works  of  love  and  sympathy. 
Everywhere  in  distant  lands  the  missionaries  are 
met  by  the  astonishment  of  non-Christians  that 
the  white  man  should  leave  his  home  and  go  so  far 
to  heal  the  sick  and  tell  good  news  of  peace  and 
goodwill.  The  marvel  of  that  unselfish  service  is 
the  strongest  appeal  of  Christianity  abroad  and 
at  home.  It  is  unanswerable  and  irresistible. 
Those  who  engage  in  it  are  conscious  of  common 
ties  binding  them  in  a  mystic  communion  far 
above  all  sects  and  parties.  They  experience  in 
simple  and  tangible  ways  the  great  realities  of 
the  religion  of  Christ.  They  best  know  the  divine 
nature,  for  God  is  love.  They  enter  deepest  into 
the  fellowship  of  the  apostles,  a  fellowship  of  suf- 
fering for  the  redemption  of  the  race.  They  at- 
tain the  most  substantial  satisfactions  of  life,  for 
Jesus  proclaimed  not  merely  a  rule  of  his  own 
faith,  but  a  law  of  life  itself  when  He  said,  "He 
that  would  be  the  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be 
the  servant  of  all." 

This  ideal  of  social  service  is  filling  the  Church 
with  new  hope.  It  is  attracting  stronger  men  into 
her  ministry.  It  is  producing  new  hymns  and  a 

40 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

new  spirit  of  worship.  It  is  affording  a  new  con- 
ception of  church  membership  as  an  active  parti- 
cipation in  the  growing  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
It  is  an  ideal  full  of  practical  deeds  and  of  sweet 
reasonableness,  but  full  also  of  the  romance  and 
mystery  of  the  infinite  life  manifesting  itself  in 
the  will  and  purposes  of  men. 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy  might  remain 
in  you,  and  that  your  joy  might  be  full.    John  xv,  11. 

A  NOTABLE  characteristic  of  the  religious  thought 
of  our  time  is  the  more  intimate  and  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  personality  of  Jesus.  We 
have  long  been  familiar  with  his  official  titles  of 
prophet,  priest,  and  king;  and  with  his  theological 
designations  as  the  Son  of  God,  the  Logos,  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  We  have  dwelt  upon  cer- 
tain features  of  his  earthly  life,  his  temptation,  his 
hunger  and  thirst,  his  suffering  and  sorrow  and 
sacrificial  death.  Men  have  made  bold  to  empha- 
size various  traits  of  his  character  which  bring 
Him  into  still  closer  and  more  vital  relation  with 
our  common  humanity.  Not  only  have  they 
dwelt  upon  his  patience,  self-restraint,  capacity 
for  friendship  and  heroism,  but  we  read  of  his  love 
of  nature,  his  use  of  exaggeration,  his  anger,  his 
ignorance  on  certain  subjects,  and  there  is  more 
than  one  book  devoted  exclusively  to  the  humor 
of  Jesus.  These  studies  are  not  irreverent  or  ca- 
pricious, but  are  genuine,  sympathetic  attempts 

45 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

to  plumb  the  depths  and  ranges  of  the  ever-fas- 
cinating, many-sided  character  of  Christ. 

Much  has  been  written,  too,  about  the  joy  of 
Jesus,  but  usually  it  has  been  conceived  as  an 
unnatural  joy  —  the  joy  of  self-renunciation,  of 
silent  but  highly  self-conscious  suffering.  It  has 
seldom  been  set  forth  as  the  joy  of  a  robust,  eager 
soul,  rejoicing  in  the  energy  of  youth,  in  the  vol- 
untary choice  of  a  great  task  and  in  the  intellec- 
tual discovery  of  spiritual  realities.  But  the  more 
searching  inquiries  of  recent  scholarship  encour- 
age such  an  interpretation  of  the  joy  of  Jesus. 
Certain  it  is  they  do  not  represent  Him  as  prima- 
rily a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 
That  particular  designation  was  derived  from  the 
Old  Testament  prophet,  and  does  not  express 
Jesus'  own  thought  of  Himself.  The  early  dis- 
ciples and  the  Church  in  subsequent  ages  very 
naturally  magnified  the  passion  and  death  of 
Jesus,  but  it  is  not  in  keeping  with  all  we  know  of 
Him  to  think  that  through  life  he  held  before 
Himself  the  consciousness  of  death  upon  the 
cross.  It  is,  indeed,  quite  possible  that  his  buoy- 
ant optimism  obscured  for  a  considerable  time 
his  realization  of  the  deadly  opposition  forming 
against  Him,  and  that  only  gradually  did  He  per- 

46 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

ceive  the  full  purpose  of  his  enemies.  The  very 
depth  and  vividness  of  his  enthusiasm  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God  might  well  have  made  difficult 
any  anticipation  of  the  culminating  tragedy  of 
his  ministry. 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  words  can- 
not mean  one  thing  in  daily  experience  and  an- 
other in  religion,  if  we  are  ever  to  come  to  an 
understanding  with  reference  to  our  most  ideal 
interests.  The  joy  of  Jesus  must  be  comparable 
to  our  own.  It  must  mean  the  gratification  of 
wants,  the  satisfaction  of  desires,  the  fulfillment 
of  hopes,  where  there  was  uncertainty  and  real 
chance  of  failure.  The  particular  things  which 
yield  pleasure  to  different  men  may  be  as  various 
as  collecting  stamps  and  commanding  armies,  but 
they  all  have  this  in  common:  they  supply  some 
felt  need.  A  man's  joy  reveals  the  kind  of  man 
he  is.  It  shows  his  deepest  craving.  It  uncovers 
the  hot  spot  of  his  mind.  Jesus  was  no  exception. 
His  character  may  be  seen  in  his  satisfactions. 
We  have  his  own  deliberate  and  conscious  empha- 
sis upon  the  joy  He  felt  and  which  He  desired  to 
share  with  his  disciples.  He  was  approaching  the 
great  crisis.  His  mind  was  filled  by  thoughts  of 
his  mission.  It  was  important  that  his  disciples 

47 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

make  no  mistake  concerning  the  spirit  and  tem- 
per of  his  teaching.  At  that  moment  He  surveyed 
his  instruction,  and  exclaimed:  "These  things 
have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  my  joy  might  re- 
main in  you  and  that  your  joy  might  be  full." 

I  wish  to  consider  this  happiness  of  Jesus  as  it  is 
manifested  in  his  natural  impulses,  in  his  devo- 
tion to  a  great  task,  and  in  the  play  of  his  imagin- 
ation as  he  interpreted  and  projected  the  mean- 
ing of  his  gospel.  We  have  come  to  have  greater 
respect  for  our  natural  appetites  and  impulses. 
The  instincts  have  attained  new  dignity  in  the 
eyes  of  science  and  philosophy.  They  are  re- 
garded as  the  raw  materials,  the  vital  stuff,  out 
of  which  our  lives  develop.  The  energy  and  sen- 
sitivity of  these  elemental  impulses  make  life 
urgent  and  warm.  They  contribute  a  vibrant, 
tender  beauty  to  all  young  life.  They  furnish  the 
dynamics  of  the  organized  habits  of  manhood. 
The  presence  of  this  original  quality  and  flavor  of 
youth  is  unmistakable.  It  cannot  be  simulated 
and  it  cannot  be  disguised.  This  quality  shines 
through  all  the  words  and  gestures  of  Jesus.  He 
thereby  stands  in  striking  contrast  with  the  hard- 
ened old  age  of  his  nation.  He  moves  with  the 
strong,  sinewy  step  of  a  vigorous  man.  There  is  a 

48 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

fresh,  persuasive  note  in  his  speech  which  the 
people  at  once  detect.  "They  were  astonished  at 
his  teaching,"  the  record  runs,  "for  He  taught 
them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the 
scribes."  This  authority  was  doubtless  the  ex- 
pression, in  part  at  least,  of  the  unworn  energy  of 
his  youth. 

Jesus  was  perfectly  conscious  that  He  was  no 
ascetic  and  that  his  frank  acceptance  of  the  natu- 
ral appetites  and  affections  constantly  brought 
Him  under  criticism.  The  difference  between 
Him  and  John  the  Baptist,  in  this  respect,  was 
readily  observed.  Jesus  declared,  "John  came 
neither  eating  nor  drinking  and  they  say,  He  hath 
a  devil.  The  Son  of  Man  came  eating  and  drink- 
ing, and  they  say,  Behold  a  man  gluttonous,  and 
a  winebibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners." 
Jesus  mingled  freely  in  the  social  life  about  Him. 
One  commentator  remarks  that  "there  is  no  rec- 
ord in  the  New  Testament  of  his  ever  having  de- 
clined an  invitation,"  and  adds,  "His  habit  in  this 
respect  is  illustrated  by  his  presence  at  the  mar- 
riage at  Cana  of  Galilee,  the  feast  at  Matthew's 
house,  the  house  of  Simon,  the  dinner  given  Him 
by  the  Pharisees,  and  the  supper  given  by  Mary 
and  Martha." 

49 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

There  are  other  evidences  of  his  instinctive 
delight  in  natural  things.  He  had  a  fresh,  sensu- 
ous joy  in  the  open  fields  and  in  the  solitudes  of 
the  mountains.  The  flowers  held  his  eye,  and 
their  transient  beauty  impressed  Him  with  the 
marvelously  intimate  care  of  God.  He  had  a  peas- 
ant's love  of  nature  and  it  was  his  habit  to  escape 
into  her  silences  for  poise  and  vision.  He  felt  the 
blue  waters  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  carry  Him  ca- 
ressingly into  peace  and  rest. 

This  deep  mystical  passion  for  the  free  life  of 
the  hills  was  only  equaled  by  his  love  of  the  pro- 
phetic innocence  of  childhood.  One  led  Him  into 
a  consciousness  of  divine  providence,  and  the 
other  to  the  spirit  of  his  coming  kingdom  —  a 
kingdom  constituted  by  pure  and  teachable  souls. 
Thus  the  powerful  impulses  of  his  nature  deter- 
mined his  outlook  upon  the  world.  There  was 
about  Him,  even  in  his  subdued  moments,  the  un- 
spent nervous  force  of  a  strong  man,  interpreting 
life  through  his  own  creative  personality.  His 
gesture  frightened  the  money-changers  from  the 
temple.  He  felt  able  to  exert  the  power  of  legions 
of  angels.  One  grain  of  his  faith  would  remove 
mountains.  The  very  words  He  uttered  seemed 
eternal.  He  feared  neither  violence  nor  death. 

50 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

Even  if  He  were  crucified  He  would  have  strength 
to  rise  again,  and  the  company  of  his  disciples  — 
his  Church  —  He  would  build  upon  the  rock  of  his 
mighty  spirit  so  securely  that  the  very  gates  of 
hell  could  not  prevail  against  it. 

May  we  not  thus  think,  with  reverence,  of  the 
consciousness  of  power  born  of  the  natural  in- 
stincts within  him?  Does  not  some  measure  of 
that  power  sweep  through  the  soul  of  any  one  of 
us,  hi  some  moments  of  our  lives?  Are  not  these 
the  hours  of  our  visions,  our  awakenings,  our  il- 
luminations? Are  not  these  the  precious  moments 
of  the  mystic  when  he  seems  to  transcend  the  lim- 
its of  ordinary  knowledge  and  catch  glimpses  of 
God's  very  essence? 

In  such  passionate  moments,  the  bounds  of 
logical  thought  seem  passed,  and  routine  habits 
cast  off.  These  may  be  the  channels  of  what  we 
call  inspiration,  through  which,  if  we  are  scientists 
we  make  discoveries;  if  we  are  artists,  we  arrive  at 
new  beauty;  if  we  are  prophets,  we  gain  new  reve- 
lations —  the  channels  through  which,  no  matter 
what  we  may  be,  we  feel  the  passionate  and  ele- 
mental joy  of  life. 

The  joy  of  Jesus  may  further  be  viewed  in  re- 
spect to  his  task.  When  the  seventy  returned  tri- 

51 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

umphantly  f rom  the  first  mission  upon  which  He 
sent  them,  his  exultation  was  intense.  "In  that 
hour,"  the  narrative  tells  us,  "Jesus  rejoiced  in 
spirit  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth."  "And  he  turned  to  his  dis- 
ciples and  said,  Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the 
things  that  ye  see;  for  I  tell  you,  that  many 
prophets  and  kings  have  desired  to  see  these 
things  that  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them;  and 
to  hear  those  things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not 
heard  them." 

We  can  scarcely  exaggerate  the  emotion  of 
Jesus  at  that  moment.  For  generations  his  na- 
tion had  cherished  the  hope  of  an  awakening  and 
a  deliverance.  Some  still  looked  for  it  in  outward 
power  and  pomp,  in  the  coming  of  a  grand  king 
like  David.  But  Jesus  cherished  a  wiser  hope, 
caught,  perhaps,  from  the  prophet  Isaiah,  nour- 
ished by  gentle  spirits  like  the  aged  Simeon,  and 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus.  This  hope  was  for 
one  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek,  to  bind 
up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the 
captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound;  to  give  them  that  mourn  beauty 
for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the  gar- 
ment of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness. 
*  52 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

These  were  the  very  words  Jesus  took  for  a 
text  in  the  first  discourse  of  his  public  ministry. 
This  was  the  message  He  enjoined  the  seventy  to 
preach,  for  in  every  city  they  were  to  heal  the  sick 
and  say,  The  kingdom  of  God  is  come  nigh  unto 
you.  It  was  the  first  great  venture  upon  the  long- 
cherished  hope  of  the  more  spiritual  patriots  of 
his  people.  How  would  the  message  be  received? 
What  response  would  the  people  make?  No  won- 
der Jesus  felt  a  thrill  of  ecstasy  when  the  seventy 
returned  with  joy  and  said, "  Lord,  even  the  devils 
are  subject  unto  us." 

There  was  something  ancestral,  something 
massive  and  corporate  uttering  itself  in  this  re- 
sponse of  the  people.  It  was  the  ancient  national 
spirit  rising  to  prophetic  speech  once  more.  But 
the  keen  satisfaction  of  that  moment  was  yet  to 
be  deepened  and  mellowed  by  relentless  opposi- 
tion and  persecution.  The  officials  of  the  existing 
order  blocked  the  progress  of  Jesus.  Their  anger 
and  hatred  grew  as  they  saw  the  crowds  increas- 
ing round  Him.  And  here  is  just  the  point  at 
which  we  have  been  most  mistaken  about  the 
emotional  experience  of  Jesus. 

We  have  witnessed  the  contest  between  Jesus 
and  the  Pharisees  too  much  hi  the  attitude  of 

53 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

casual  observers.  We  have  been  like  timid,  un- 
seeing persons  witnessing  an  athletic  contest. 
The  players  rush  into  the  scrimmages,  tense  and 
determined.  They  collide,  and  fall,  and  struggle. 
They  rise,  bruised  and  bloody.  Some  are  carried 
off  the  field.  We  say,  Poor  fellows,  how  they  suf- 
fer! What  pitiful  lives  they  live!  How  depressed 
and  melancholy  they  must  be,  having  always  to 
be  in  training,  to  struggle,  and  endure,  that  others 
may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  vicarious  sacrifice. 
How  false  is  such  an  impression.  How  it  misses 
the  whole  experience  of  the  players.  They  are 
really  at  the  height  of  keenest  pleasure.  They  are 
the  bearers  of  the  college  colors  and  the  college 
spirit.  They  are  unconscious  of  the  blood  and 
dirt.  The  blows  and  cuts  are  mere  stings  and 
scratches,  and  they  rush  back  into  line  full  of  the 
glory  of  their  cause  and  the  hope  of  victory. 

Or  we  may  think  of  the  patriot  marching  to 
battle.  It  is  terrible,  but  it  is  grand.  To  the  ob- 
server, he  fronts  hardships  and  danger  and  death. 
For  himself,  he  has  a  cause  at  heart.  Into  the 
thick  of  the  fight  he  goes  with  the  challenge  of 
the  moral  universe  upon  him.  He  is  beyond  all 
thought  of  any  other  joy  in  the  undivided  energy 
he  gives  to  this. 

54 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

I  think  it  was  so  with  Jesus.  The  scattered, 
shepherdless  souls  of  his  countrymen  stirred  his 
compassion.  He  espoused  their  cause  against  the 
injustices,  hypocrisies,  and  vices  by  which  they 
were  burdened.  Every  opposition  He  encountered 
awakened  new  resources  within  Him  and  height- 
ened the  importance  of  his  task.  To  the  observer 
He  was  abused,  belied,  mocked,  scourged,  and 
crucified.  To  Himself  he  was  the  ardent,  faithful, 
deathless  champion  of  a  glorious  kingdom.  We 
enter  most  intimately  into  his  emotions  when  we 
think  of  Him  as  committed  to  a  great  moral  ad- 
venture in  which  the  spiritual  destiny  of  the  race 
hung  in  the  balance.  No  one  knew  in  advance, 
not  even  Jesus  Himself,  what  the  outcome  would 
be.  No  one  knew  the  day  nor  the  hour,  nor  the 
manner  of  the  end.  That  is  the  only  kind  of  a  sit- 
uation which  elicits  genuine  feeling.  No  contest 
awakens  interest  where  the  strife  is  unreal,  where 
the  forces  are  known  to  be  unevenly  matched,  or 
where  one  side  has  some  unnatural  advantage. 
If  Jesus  had  been  as  spectral  and  magical  a  person 
as  some  have  thought,  He  could  not  have  been 
even  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief; 
but  with  a  nature  truly  like  our  own,  only  might- 
ier and  holier  and  sincerely  devoted  to  the  vast 

55 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

enterprise  of  human  redemption,  He  could  only 
be  what  He  Himself  said  He  was,  a  man  of  joy. 
For  the  building  of  a  race  of  righteous  men  is  the 
noblest  possible  adventure,  and  he  who  gives  him- 
self to  it  is  sure  of  greater  satisfactions  than  gladi- 
ators or  warriors  achieve. 

It  was  the  hope  of  Jesus  that  this  joy  might  be 
shared  by  his  disciples  and  that  their  joy  might  be 
full.  They  could  experience  it  by  the  same  fear- 
less and  unmeasured  devotion  to  the  betterment 
of  humanity.  Every  man  who  has  in  any  way 
joined  in  this  moral  adventure  of  Christianity 
knows  what  the  Master  meant.  The  astonishing 
thing  is  that  so  many  people  have  never  made 
this  discovery  of  the  satisfactions  of  strenuous 
moral  endeavor.  We  are  eager  enough  for  pleas- 
ure, but  we  seem  blind  to  the  means  of  its  attain- 
ment. We  are  evermore  seeking  it  for  itself,  while 
all  of  the  psychologists  and  philosophers  insist 
that  we  should  heed  the  paradox  that  it  is  only 
found  where  it  is  not  sought.  It  is  the  elusive 
blue  bird  which  we  seek  far  and  wide,  only  to  find 
it  in  kindly  deeds  at  our  own  lowly  fireside.  And 
it  escapes  us  even  there  the  moment  we  become 
too  conscious  of  it.  When  we  try  to  hold  it  in 
our  hands  and  stroke  it,  it  flies  out  of  the  window. 

56 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

There  must  be  some  hardihood  about  our  moral 
adventures;  some  distant  objective,  some  forget- 
fulness  of  self.  The  chances  for  a  thrilling  good 
time  are  overwhelmingly  on  the  side  of  the  Lady 
of  the  Decoration,  as  against  my  lady  of  comforts, 
dwelling  securely  at  home  in  the  lap  of  luxury. 

Mr.  Chesterton  declares  that  "the  thing  called 
high  spirits  is  possible  only  to  the  spiritual." 
"Ultimately,"  he  says,  "a  man  can  enjoy  nothing 
but  religion."  You  remember  the  contrast  he 
draws  between  Jesus  Christ  and  Omar  Khayyam 
in  the  use  of  wine.  "Jesus  Christ  made  wine  not 
a  medicine,  but  a  sacrament.  But  Omar  makes 
it  not  a  sacrament,  but  a  medicine.  He  feasts  be- 
cause life  is  not  joyful;  he  revels  because  he  is  not 
glad.  *  Drink,'  he  says,  'for  you  know  not  whence 
you  come  nor  why.  Drink,  for  you  know  not 
when  you  go  nor  where.  Drink,  because  the  stars 
are  cruel  and  the  world  as  idle  as  a  humming  top. 
Drink,  because  all  things  are  lapsed  in  a  base 
equality  and  an  evil  peace.'  So  he  stands,  offering 
us  the  cup  in  his  hand.  And  at  the  high  altar  of 
Christianity  stands  another  figure,  in  whose  hand 
also  is  the  cup  of  the  vine.  *  Drink,'  He  says,  'for 
the  whole  world  is  as  red  as  this  wine,  with  the 
crimson  of  the  love  and  wrath  of  God.  Drink,  for 

57 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

the  trumpets  are  blowing  for  battle  and  this  is 
the  stirrup-cup.  Drink,  for  this  is  my  blood  of  the 
New  Testament  that  is  shed  for  you.  Drink,  for 
I  know  of  whence  you  come  and  why.  Drink, 
for  I  know  of  when  you  go  and  where." 

But  the  joy  of  Jesus  was  not  merely  instinctive 
exuberance,  nor  was  it  only  self-forgetfulness  in 
a  huge  task.  His  impulsive  energy  and  powerful 
will  expressed  themselves  also  in  the  luminous 
play  of  a  clear,  discerning  intellect.  He  has  some- 
times been  classed  as  a  successor  of  the  wise  men 
or  sages  of  his  race,  rather  than  as  a  priest  or 
prophet.  But  He  never  gives  the  impression  of  a 
love  for  purely  speculative  wisdom.  His  reflec- 
tion issues  from  the  deep  moral  need  He  sees 
about  Him.  His  ideas  are  warm  and  urgent  with 
human  interest.  They  are  concrete  and  visualized, 
yet  definite  and  organic.  His  thought  moves  with 
the  quick,  free  action  of  a  mind  ready  and  at  ease. 

He  had  no  fear  of  knowledge,  but  welcomed  it 
as  an  essential  of  his  religion.  "Wisdom  is  jus- 
tified of  her  children,"  He  declared.  Again  He 
said,  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free."  So  thoroughly  did  He  trust 
man's  natural  reason,  that  He  asked  the  common 
people  why  they  could  not  discern  the  moral 

58 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

signs  of  the  time  with  some  such  certainty  as  they 
detected  signs  of  rain  or  fair  weather.  "Yea,  and 
why  even  of  yourselves  judge  ye  not  what  is 
right?" 

His  own  mind  held  clearly  the  great  moral  dis- 
tinctions and  values  of  life.  He  never  confused 
anise,  mint,  and  cummin  with  the  weightier  mat- 
ters of  the  law  —  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith. 
He  saw  that  some  of  the  Ten  Commandments  are 
more  important  than  others,  and  without  hesita- 
tion asserted  that  love  to  God  and  love  to  man  are 
the  two  commandments  upon  which  hang  all  the 
law  and  the  prophets.  With  the  same  deep  pene- 
tration He  gave  morality  a  new  dimension  when 
He  arraigned  the  traditional  standards,  saying, 
"Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  by  them  of  old 
time,  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  and  whosoever  shall  kill 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment;  but  I  say  unto 
you,  that  whosoever  is  angry  with  his  brother 
without  a  cause  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment. 
Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine  enemy.  But  I 
say  unto  you  —  Love  your  enemies." 

Jesus  also  saw  clearly  the  action  and  reaction 
of  psychical  attitudes  and  moral  dispositions 
among  people.  He  warned  his  disciples  that  they 

59 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

would  be  judged  by  their  own  manner  of  judging 
and  that  according  to  their  own  measure  would 
others  measure  back  to  them.  "They  that  take 
the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword."  "Whatso- 
ever ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do 
ye  even  so  unto  them." 

At  times  the  illustration  of  this  principle  rose 
to  a  touch  of  humor,  as  when  He  asked,  "And 
why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy 
brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that 
is  in  thine  own  eye?  Thou  hypocrite,  first  cast  out 
the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  and  then  shalt 
thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy 
brother's  eye." 

We  sometimes  encounter  minds  which  seem 
endowed  with  a  special  gift  for  mathematical 
forms  and  formulas.  They  move  to  the  heart  of 
a  problem  with  facile  and  sure  intuition,  while 
other  men  are  confused  and  heavy  in  their  num- 
ber processes.  In  some  such  contrast  Jesus  stood 
to  many  with  whom  his  conversations  are  pre- 
served to  us.  His  interpretation  of  a  moral  situa- 
tion separates  the  gold  from  the  dross  so  that  all 
right-minded  men  perceive  the  distinction.  It 
was  often  so  when  they  tried  to  trap  Jesus  into 
some  embarrassing  admission;  for  example,  when 

60 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

they  inquired  about  taxes,  and  He  answered  by 
the  image  and  superscription  of  the  tribute 
money,  "Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's." 
And  again  when  they  questioned  whether  He 
should  heal  a  man  on  the  Sabbath,  He  pointed  to 
their  own  willingness  to  rescue  a  sheep  from  a  pit- 
fall on  the  Sabbath,  and  remarked,  "How  much, 
then,  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep?" 

With  the  same  precision  He  disclosed  the  hy- 
pocrisy of  the  Pharisees,  who  strained  at  gnats 
of  legalism  and  swallowed  camels  of  actual  sin. 
They  made  clean  the  outside,  but  within  were  full 
of  extortion  and  excess. 

But  it  was,  perhaps,  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  growth  of  his  kingdom  that  He  experienced 
the  keenest  satisfactions.  He  saw  through  the 
seeming  paradox  of  its  inner  law.  And  when  his 
disciples  came  to  Him  still  confused  by  the  illu- 
sions of  worldly  power  and  rank,  and  by  the  con- 
ception of  advancement  through  influence  and 
favoritism,  He  answered  that  in  the  kingdom  of 
true  morality  and  righteousness  it  was  not  so, 
but  that  He  that  would  be  the  greatest  must 
be  the  servant  of  all.  This  kingdom,  therefore, 
enlarges  itself  from  within  and  by  processes  which 

61 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

are  beyond  the  comprehension  of  selfish  men. 
It  communicates  itself  like  the  leaven  hidden  in 
the  meal;  it  grows  like  the  tiny  mustard  seed  from 
small  beginnings  to  great  proportions;  it  is  like 
secret  treasure  for  which,  when  they  discover  it, 
men  sell  all  the  outward  goods  they  possess. 

Those  who  seek  first  this  kingdom  find  all  the 
qualities  which  are  effective  in  this  present  world, 
for  they  must  be  faithful  and  honest  and  indus- 
trious and  pure.  Such  men  are  not  harassed  by 
anxious  thought  for  the  outward  goods.  They  are 
of  untroubled  hearts  in  the  midst  of  the  strife  and 
clamor  of  the  world,  and  they  enjoy  a  peace  which 
passeth  all  understanding  of  the  selfish  mind. 

It  was  with  this  farseeing  insight  that  Jesus 
faced  the  cross.  "Whosoever  exalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased,  and  he  that  shall  humble  himself 
shall  be  exalted."  That  intellectual  conviction 
transformed  the  cross  —  and  the  glory  of  that 
transformation  has  been  made  brighter  as  men 
have  grown  to  understand  it  more  adequately. 

It  was  such  joy  as  this  which  Jesus  craved 
for  his  disciples,  a  joy  so  natural  and  spontane- 
ous that  it  already  throbs  in  the  unspoiled  im- 
pulses of  children  and  of  virtuous  men;  a  joy  so 
virile  and  cumulative  that  it  rises  with  the  great- 

62 


THE  JOY  OF  JESUS 

ness  of  the  moral  task  undertaken;  a  joy  so  sane 
and  intelligible  that  it  unfolds  its  logic  to  every 
pure  and  teachable  mind. 

Unfortunately,  the  disciples  of  Jesus  have  not 
always  entered  fully  into  this  joy.  They  have 
often  caught  the  serious  summons  of  the  Master 
with  Puritan  rigor,  but  without  his  full  confidence 
in  life.  They  have  put  on  sackcloth  and  ashes 
when  they  might  well  have  worn  the  wedding 
garment.  They  have  sometimes  made  the  high 
day  of  religion  gloomy  and  stern  and  forbidding, 
when  in  its  proper  spirit  it  is  a  day  of  noble  fellow- 
ship and  song. 

We  are  this  week  entering  upon  the  season  of 
Lent.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  by  thinking 
we  are  religious  because  we  are  sad  of  counte- 
nance and  quiet  in  manner.  We  should  be  sad 
when  we  reflect  upon  our  lives,  if  we  find  that  they 
are  not  religious.  Our  grief  is  necessary,  not  be- 
cause we  are  keeping  company  with  Christ,  but 
because  through  misapprehension,  or  carelessness, 
or  perversion  of  spirit,  we  have  wandered  away 
from  Him.  If  we  truly  enter  into  his  life,  we  shall 
find  Him  buoyant  where  outward  circumstances 
made  us  think  Him  broken  in  spirit;  we  shall  find 
Him  silent  in  the  presence  of  threatening  death, 

63 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

not  because  He  is  afraid  or  confounded,  but  be- 
cause already  He  sees  the  future  with  a  vision 
that  none  of  his  disciples  —  much  less  Pilate  or 
the  priests  —  can  share. 

Easter  is  the  true  objective  of  Lent,  for  at 
Easter  religion  comes  forth  again  with  festival 
and  song,  with  drama  and  pageant.  Then  the 
true  disciples  of  Christ  raise  aloft  the  cross,  not 
as  the  emblem  of  pain  and  defeat,  but  as  the  sign 
of  victory  and  immortal  life.  Then  they  experi- 
ence what  Jesus  meant  when  He  said,  "These 
things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  my  joy  might 
remain  in  you  and  that  your  joy  might  be  full." 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

"  Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a 
cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which 
doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is 
set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith." 
Heb.  xn.  1,  2. 

THERE  is  something  deeply  human  in  this  refer- 
ence to  the  presence  of  other  people  as  a  reason 
for  strenuous  moral  endeavor.  It  is  almost  dis- 
concerting to  be  so  frankly  urged  to  be  good 
because  one  is  being  observed.  Yet  there  is  no 
denying  the  fact  that  OUT  neighbors'  opinions 
are  mighty  goads  to  good  actions  and  powerful 
deterrents  from  evil.  We  do  not  always  admit  it. 
We  are,  indeed,  seldom  conscious  of  the  extent 
to  which  it  is  true.  There  is  often  an  avowal  of 
disinterested,  independent  devotion  to  truth  and 
honor,  while  all  the  time  one  is  really  controlled 
and  guided  by  the  attitudes  and  expressions  of  the 
persons  standing  by.  Every  normal  human  being 
lives  in  this  medium  of  social  stimulation  and  con- 
trol, as  a  fish  lives  in  water  or  a  bird  in  air. 

It  has  always  been  so.  The  helplessness  of 
human  infancy  determines  every  individual  to  an 

67 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

intimate  dependence  upon  others  for  several  of 
the  most  impressionable  years.  There  can  be  no 
infant  Robinson  Crusoe  all  alone  on  a  desert 
island.  And  by  the  time  a  Robinson  Crusoe  is 
able  to  maintain  himself  in  solitude,  he  is  already 
formed  and  fashioned  under  the  eyes  of  many 
witnesses.  The  approval  and  censure  of  the  fam- 
ily circle,  of  playfellows  and  of  various  kith  and 
kin,  establish  the  core  of  his  code  of  conduct.  As 
a  child,  seeing  a  shining  vase  upon  the  table,  im- 
pulsively puts  out  a  hand  to  touch  it,  and  then, 
with  the  hand  poised  in  air,  turns  to  search  the 
mother's  face  for  permission  to  proceed,  so  hu- 
man beings  are  always  casting  side  glances  to 
ascertain  the  opinions  of  the  spectators.  It  is 
noticeable  that  people  are  frequently  more  care- 
ful about  their  front  yards,  which  the  public  may 
see,  than  they  are  with  the  back  yards.  We  quite 
naturally  agree  that  it  is  more  important  to  have 
the  street  side  of  the  house  of  better  material 
or  to  keep  it  especially  well  painted  and  repaired. 
We  thus  pay  tribute  to  the  sentiments  of  others. 
Without  this  environing  human  presence,  we  are 
like  sailors  who  have  no  compass  and  cannot  see 
the  stars.  The  most  ordinary  moral  judgments 
lose  their  meaning  when  the  individual  is  cut  off 

68 


from  his  fellows.  Every  one  knows,  for  example, 
that  in  dealing  with  others  it  is  wrong  to  cheat, 
but  a  student  recently  asked  in  all  seriousness 
whether  it  is  immoral  to  cheat  in  solitaire. 

The  moralists  identify  the  growth  of  ethical 
sentiment  in  an  individual  with  the  growth  of 
his  knowledge  of  the  judgment  of  his  associates. 
As  one  writer  says:  "There  is  often  a  lack  of 
sharp  condemnation  of  ourselves  as  long  as  our 
sins  remain  private;  we  are  aware  of  the  sinful- 
ness  in  a  general  way;  conscience  gets  in  a  timid 
voice,  especially  just  at  the  time  of  commission 
of  the  deed,  and  more  timidly  each  time  that  it  is 
committed;  but  there  may  be  no  lively  emotional 
reaction,  no  great  agitation  of  remorse,  no  desper- 
ate attempts  to  justify  one's  self  by  argument,  no 
call  to  repentance.  But  let  it  once  come  out;  then 
his  nature  asserts  itself.  The  sense  of  publicity 
immediately  reacts  upon  his  own  private  stand- 
ards of  judgment."  He  then  sees  himself  as  others 
see  him  and  the  profound  emotions  of  self-con- 
demnation sweep  over  him.  Similarly,  a  man's 
sense  of  the  value  of  virtue,  of  strict  honor  and 
integrity,  is  heightened  and  strengthened  by  the 
recognition  and  approval  of  others. 

It  is  this  great  universal  fact  of  our  moral 
69 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

experience  which  the  text  employs.  It  implies 
also  that  one  may  select  and  enlarge  the  cloud 
of  witnesses  in  imagination  and  keep  them  be- 
fore the  mind  when  they  are  no  longer  accessible 
in  physical  presence.  These  witnesses  which  the 
inner  eye  beholds  serve  as  supports  and  guides 
when  a  man's  actual  companions  are  inadequate, 
or  when  they  might  tyrannize  over  his  will  and 
hinder  his  most  ideal  achievements. 

The  possession  of  such  a  company  of  ideal 
companions  is  a  distinctly  human  characteristic. 
Out  of  sight,  out  of  mind,  is  the  fate  of  the  lower 
orders  of  life,  and  it  was  only  gradually  that  the 
memory  of  man  lengthened  to  include  the  names 
and  deeds  of  any  individuals  beyond  a  generation 
or  two.  It  was  the  development  of  language  and 
the  accumulation  of  traditions  and  records  which 
enabled  man  to  draw  away  from  the  narrow  world 
of  other  animals,  and  guide  himself  by  the  achieve- 
ments of  many  individuals  remote  in  time  and 
place.  The  recital  of  the  deeds  of  the  great  names 
of  Israel's  past,  as  given  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Hebrews,  is  a  typical  expression  of  the  way  in 
which  the  race  brought  its  lengthening  memory 
to  bear  upon  the  conduct  of  the  individual.  Here 
are  arrayed  with  dramatic  vividness  and  individ- 

70 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

uality  the  ancestral  heroes  of  the  faith.  Some  of 
them,  like  Abel,  Enoch  and  Noah,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  move  upon  the  shadowy  borders 
of  mythology  and  folklore.  Others  stand  in  the 
light  of  history  —  David,  Samuel,  the  prophets, 
and  the  great  company  of  the  nameless  cham- 
pions of  faith.  All  of  them  exemplify  the  power 
of  faith  —  "through  faith  they  subdued  king- 
doms, wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  vio- 
lence of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of 
weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in 
fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens." 

They  endured  as  seeing  the  invisible.  It  was 
the  cultivation  of  this  ability  to  transcend  the 
present  moment  and  live  in  intimate  companion- 
ship with  the  past  which  contributed  to  the  in- 
tensity of  religious  life  among  the  Jews.  They 
thus  created  and  transmitted  a  rich  heritage  of 
national  idealism  which  has  marvelously  resisted 
changes  of  environment  and  all  manner  of  out- 
ward misfortunes.  By  impressing  the  stories  of 
their  early  heroes  upon  the  minds  of  the  children, 
they  fortified  one  generation  after  another  against 
alien  standards  and  kept  them  loyal  to  the  race 
ideals. 

71 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Besides,  it  was  possible  in  this  way  to  cherish 
only  those  traits  of  the  former  generations  which 
contributed  to  the  ideal  ends  desired.  There  were 
many  characters  whom  it  was  advantageous  to 
forget.  Thus  the  process  of  selection  was  con- 
stantly at  work,  not  so  much  by  deliberate  or 
conscious  determination  as  by  the  attraction  of  a 
common  purpose.  The  dauntless  spirit  of  the 
race,  especially  in  time  of  disaster,  attracted  to 
itself  the  like-minded  characters  of  the  past  and 
thereby  confirmed  its  hope  and  fixed  more  securely 
that  type  of  mind  for  the  future. 

It  was  lack  of  continuity  in  their  outward  his- 
tory which  forced  the  Hebrews  to  maintain  with 
rigor  and  devotion,  the  inner  spirit  and  mental 
pictures  of  their  past.  This  tendency  preserved 
the  soul  of  the  nation  after  its  institutions  were 
broken  and  humbled.  It  has  enabled  the  faithful 
Jews  for  thousands  of  years  to  preserve  their 
racial  identity  and  to  endure  contempt  and  dis- 
aster as  no  other  people  has  done.  No  other  has 
shown  so  much  tenacity  of  ancient  ideals  through 
such  calamities  and  opposition.  And  this  has 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  with  deep  moral  earnest- 
ness and  unflagging  zeal,  the  imagination  of  every 
child  has  been  infused  with  the  idealized  characters 

72 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

of  the  long  line  of  national  heroes.  These  char- 
acters have  had  the  quality  of  life  and  the  inti- 
macy of  deepest  sentiment.  They  have  been  better 
known  and  more  devotedly  obeyed  than  the  visible 
companions  of  the  hour.  They  have  been  the  in- 
visible keepers  of  the  conscience  and  the  honor  of 
the  generations  which  have  cherished  them. 

It  was  this  habit  of  mind  which  became  one 
of  the  greatest  contributions  of  Judaism  to  Chris- 
tianity. So  long  as  the  Christians  were  scorned 
and  persecuted  by  their  contemporaries,  they 
were  forced  to  secure  approval  and  spiritual  com- 
panionship in  imagination  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment heroes  or  with  the  celestial  company  of  the 
apostles  and  martyrs.  The  doctrine  of  the  heav- 
enly existence  which  Christianity  emphasized, 
gave  a  new  field  for  the  imagination  and  incalcu- 
lably strengthened  the  hearts  and  wills  of  the 
faithful.  Why  should  they  be  disheartened  by  the 
disdain  of  Roman  governors  and  the  ridicule  of 
common  soldiers  when  they  were  conscious  of  the 
sympathetic  presence  and  encouragement  of  their 
exalted  King  and  his  mighty  cohorts?  It  was 
thus  a  simple  matter  for  the  early  Christians  to 
employ  the  long  accustomed  usage  of  the  Hebrew 
mind  and  to  enlarge  and  idealize  the  grand  com- 

73 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

pany  of  its  heroes  by  adding  the  living,  though 
invisible,  spirits  of  their  dead.  Here  was  secured 
a  more  powerful  and  vivid  aid  to  the  imagination, 
inasmuch  as  the  great  souls  whose  approval  one 
craves  are  not  merely  in  the  past  but  are  living 
witnesses,  just  barely  removed  from  sight,  quick 
and  sensitive  to  our  mortal  strife. 

Christianity  has  here  availed  itself  of  a  very 
natural  and  universal  tendency  of  the  mind,  to 
feel  toward  the  absent  ones  something  of  the 
same  respect  and  affection  which  they  elicited 
when  actually  present.  Among  primitive  people 
the  dead  are  felt  to  be  active  and  influential  and 
hover  about  their  homes  and  associates  with  awe- 
inspiring  presence.  Christianity  has  enhanced 
that  view  and  qualified  it  with  a  moral  principle, 
for  it  is  now  the  righteous  dead  whose  presence 
the  Christian  contemplates  and  whose  approval 
he  regards. 

The  Church  has  magnified  this  mystic  host  of 
the  heavenly  world  and  has  encouraged  the  most 
vivid  imagery  with  reference  to  the  saints  ranged 
above  us  intent  hi  contemplation  of  our  moral 
conflict.  Their  sympathy  and  inspiration  are 
often  felt  to  be  the  most  powerful  incentives  to 
our  noblest  endeavors. 

74 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

"How  should  we  bear  our  life 
Without  the  friendship  of  the  happy  dead?" 

runs  the  sentiment  of  a  recent  mystical  poem  by 
Miss  Evelyn  Underbill. 

"They  see 

The  steadfast  purpose  of  eternity. 
Their  care  is  all  for  us:  they  whisper  low 
Of  the  great  heritage 
To  which  we  go. 

As  one  may  tell  a  child  of  tender  age 
Of  manhood  and  its  joys, 
They  from  our  toys 
Call  us  to  contemplation  of  the  light. 
We,  all  unknowing,  wage 
Our  endless  fight 
By  ghostly  banners  led, 
By  arms  invisible  helped  in  the  strife. 
Without  the  friendship  of  the  happy  dead 
How  should  we  bear  our  life?" 

This  is  the  theme  of  many  of  the  noblest 
hymns  of  the  Church,  reminding  us  of  those  — 

"Who,  from  the  battlements  above, 
Follow  our  course  with  eager  love, 
And  cheer  our  contest  on." 

The  first  great  step  in  the  idealization  and  spir- 
itualization  of  human  life,  then,  we  may  say,  is 
this  release  of  man  from  his  immediate  environ- 
ment and  the  reference  of  his  conduct  to  the  great 
lives  of  the  past  and  to  the  heavenly  company  of 

75 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

those  who  have  died  in  the  faith.  But  all  this  may 
occur  within  the  unmodified  tradition  of  the  past. 
The  individual  who  accepts  this  heritage  and  lives 
in  obedience  to  it  possesses  indeed  a  larger  and 
richer  inner  life  than  one  whose  conscience  had 
no  such  historical  and  celestial  perspective.  But 
for  all  that,  it  may  be  a  life  which  is  bound  to 
precedent,  subject  to  the  authority  of  tradition 
and  quite  wholly  given  to  imitation  and  acquies- 
cence. If  we  lived  in  a  changeless,  intellectual 
world,  that  type  of  religion  might  be  sufficient, 
but  in  a  growing  social  order  where  different  his- 
torical traditions  are  often  in  conflict,  something 
more  is  needed.  To  many  minds  of  our  modern 
world  the  original  Hebrew  tradition  and  its  modi- 
fied form  in  historic  Christianity  scarcely  supply 
the  full  satisfaction  demanded.  That  tradition 
is  at  least  called  upon  to  meet  other  traditions  in 
a  new  way.  The  assertion  of  its  truth,  its  an- 
tiquity, the  number  of  its  adherents  cannot 
answer  the  deeper  questions  which  many  sin- 
cere minds  are  asking.  Where  and  how,  then, 
may  a  sincere  soul  of  this  day  determine  what 
cloud  of  witnesses  to  invoke?  Here  is  a  modern 
man  who  makes  his  appeal  to  the  Greek  worthies. 
Auguste  Rodin,  in  his  brochure  "To  the  Venus 

76 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

of  Melos,"  says  of  his  experience  with  Greek  art: 
"In  the  Louvre,  of  old,  like  saints  to  a  monk  in 
his  cloister,  the  Olympian  gods  said  to  me  all  that 
a  young  man  might  usefully  hear;  later  they 
protected  and  inspired  me;  after  an  absence  of 
twenty  years,  I  found  them  again  with  an  in- 
describable joy,  and  I  understood  them.  These 
divine  fragments,  these  marbles,  older  than  two 
thousand  years,  speak  to  me  louder,  move  me 
more  than  human  beings.'* 

Another  man  of  Western  culture  makes  his 
home  in  Japan  and  comes  to  believe  profoundly 
in  the  moral  and  artistic  ideals  of  that  land  and 
makes  himself  a  kind  of  missionary  of  Japanese 
art  and  culture.  A  third  man  of  our  Anglo-Saxon 
world  is  fascinated  with  life  hi  India  and  becomes 
a  devotee  of  theosophy,  which  he  commends  to 
us  with  zeal  and  earnestness.  It  is  also  possible 
to  meet  men  among  us  who  have  come  to  know 
intimately  the  social  control,  the  proverbial  wis- 
dom, and  the  ceremonial  customs  of  the  tribes 
of  Central  Africa,  or  of  Australia,  and  who  are 
dubious  about  the  claims  of  our  culture  and  our 
religion,  hi  comparison.  Not  only  are  we  experi- 
encing this  contact  of  various  cultures  with  their 
differing  standards  and  ideals,  but  within  our 

77 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

own  society  there  are  numerous  claimants  for  al- 
legiance. There  is  a  certain  type  of  scientist 
who  like  Darwin,  may  have  given  himself  to  his 
observations  of  facts  and  the  formulations  of 
hypotheses  and  generalizations,  until  he  has  no 
interest  in  poetry  and  the  symbolic  idealizations 
of  life  which  characterize  art  and  religion. 

With  all  these  there  is  also  present  the  prac- 
tical man  of  affairs  who  may  or  may  not  elaborate 
the  theory  which  his  conduct  suggests.  He  works 
as  if  life  had  its  charm  and  justification  in  utili- 
tarian efficiency  and  skill.  He  sees  the  power  of 
wealth  and  a  certain  respect  which  it  elicits  even 
from  those  devoted  to  other  ideals,  and  he  con- 
cludes that  at  least  all  men  in  middle  life  see  the 
wisdom  of  his  course  and  tacitly  admit  that 
worldly  success  and  material  goods  are  among  the 
most  important  possessions  possible  to  men. 

This  is  not  the  first  age  of  the  world  in  which 
such  a  conflict  of  traditions  has  occurred,  and  in 
which  a  civilization  has  had  its  traditions  deeply 
challenged.  It  happened  so  among  the  Greeks  at 
the  time  of  the  Sophists;  and  among  the  Romans 
in  the  age  of  the  decline  of  the  empire  when  a  great 
number  of  Oriental  cults  struggled  with  Judaism 
and  Christianity  for  supremacy.  But  there  is  this 

78 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

difference  in  our  time.  The  wide  diffusion  of 
knowledge  makes  the  problem  vital  to  more  peo- 
ple. It  is  as  though  for  the  masses  of  men  there 
appeared  within  the  field  of  mental  vision  not 
only  the  cloud  of  witnesses  which  their  own  tra- 
ditional culture  affords,  but  also  those  vast  com- 
panies of  the  saints  of  other  faiths,  vigorous  hi 
devotion  to  their  beliefs  and  equally  ready  to 
encourage  and  crown  any  who  will  fight  under 
their  banners. 

It  is  analogous  to  the  perplexity  of  a  person 
who  removes  from  a  relatively  simple  commu- 
nity into  the  maelstrom  of  a  great  city.  In  the 
smaller  town  he  has  acquaintances  on  every  side, 
whom  he  meets  freely.  His  labors  and  his  recre- 
ations are  part  of  their  own  life.  He  feels  quickly 
their  praise  or  blame.  He  is  held  to  the  moral 
standards  of  his  class  and  group  by  the  simple  and 
direct  operation  of  public  opinion.  But  in  the 
city  there  is  a  great  multiplicity  of  social  sets  — 
clubs,  lodges,  associations,  and  guilds.  The  street 
on  which  he  lives  is  no  longer  a  neighborhood,  the 
business  associates  he  encounters  have  little  com- 
mon life  outside  of  business.  A  great  wealth  of 
organizations  offer  their  ideals  and  companion- 
ships, but  the  old  habits  and  traditions  of  the 

79 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

smaller  community  afford  little  rational  guidance 
in  the  new,  bewildering  life.  He  has  lost  the  in- 
timate connection  with  the  old  cloud  of  witnesses 
before  whom  he  felt  the  values  of  life  decisively 
and  urgently,  while  among  the  confused  and  dis- 
cordant multitudes  of  the  metropolis  no  one  at 
first  seems  to  care  whither  he  goes.  No  one  as- 
sumes responsibility  for  his  direction. 

In  some  similar  way  the  modern  mind  has 
found  itself  in  spiritual  bewilderment  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  voices.  It  is  unavailing  merely  to 
reassert  the  old  authority  with  greater  vehemence 
and  insistence.  So  far  as  the  text  offers  a  solution 
for  this  emergency,  it  is  found  in  the  exhortation 
to  run  the  race  with  the  eyes  fixed,  not  upon  the 
past,  but  upon  the  future;  not  upon  the  ancient 
heroes  so  much  as  upon  the  ideal  man  beyond.  It 
is  as  though  the  course  upon  which  the  runner  ran 
stretched  away  into  a  distance  where  the  specta- 
tors could  only  follow  by  their  eager  vision  and 
where  they  themselves  had  never  actually  run. 
One  figure  only  had  passed  along  that  course,  and 
that  was  the  figure  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  ventured 
beyond  the  ancient  goals  and  opened  a  new  and 
living  way  toward  God. 

In  the  New  Testament  Jesus  appeared  as  one 
80 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

who  directed  men  beyond  the  old  tradition.  He 
was  often  in  conflict  with  the  ancient  order.  It 
was  not  sufficient  for  Him  to  know  what  was  said 
by  them  of  old  time.  He  was  free  to  say  things 
radically  different.  And  He  did  not  offer  Himself 
as  another  lawgiver  or  dictator.  He  proclaimed 
Himself  rather  as  a  friend  and  teacher,  whose 
words  rested  not  so  much  upon  his  own  authority 
as  upon  experience.  The  truth  itself  would  make 
men  free.  Others,  coming  after  Him,  would  do 
greater  things  than  Himself. 

Jewish  descent  was  not  necessary  in  order  to  be 
a  true  son  of  Abraham.  The  God  whom  Jesus 
worshiped  counted  as  true  sons  of  Abraham  only 
those  who  had  faith  like  Abraham's  —  a  faith 
for  adventure  and  endurance,  in  the  interest  of  a 
righteous  cause.  To  Jesus  any  place  was  just  as 
sacred  as  Jerusalem,  if  it  were  a  place  where  men 
truly  worshiped  God. 

St.  Paul  understood  how  new  and  untraditional 
the  religion  of  Jesus  was  in  this  respect.  He  saw 
that  a  Jew  is  not  a  Jew  who  is  one  outwardly,  but 
he  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  inwardly,  regardless  of 
blood  or  any  ceremonial.  The  apostle  Paul  re- 
peated no  conviction  oftener  or  with  greater  em- 
phasis than  this,  that  in  Christianity  there  is  no 

81 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Jew  nor  Greek,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor 
free;  that  the  old  order  had  passed  away,  and  be- 
hold all  things  are  new! 

It  was,  then,  upon  such  a  leader  as  this  that  the 
Jewish  Christians  were  to  fix  their  eyes  as  they 
ran  their  race,  surrounded  by  the  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses. When  Jesus  Christ  is  thus  understood,  He 
becomes  an  inspiring  leader  for  an  age  in  which 
the  old  traditions  clash.  He  becomes  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  best  elements  of  all  the  streams  of 
culture  in  the  race.  The  gentle  Buddha,  the  wise 
Confucius,  the  earnest  Mohammed  are  not  re- 
pelled by  Christ,  but,  like  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
receive  through  Him  the  vindication  and  fulfill- 
ment of  the  true  spirit  of  their  teaching.  It  is  the 
fuller  appreciation  of  this  fact  which  is  opening  a 
new  chapter  in  Christian  missions.  The  Christian 
missionary  no  longer  feels  compelled  to  denounce 
en  bloc  all  of  these  ancient  revelations  of  God 
among  the  various  peoples  of  the  earth.  On  the 
contrary,  he  seeks  in  their  sacred  books  for  every 
Christ-like  word,  and  is  ready  to  employ  at  its 
full  value  every  truly  catholic  text  or  parable  of 
the  New  Testament  Scriptures. 

It  is  also  this  deep,  free  spirit  of  Christ  which 
may  guide  one  in  the  confusion  which  many  ex- 

82 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

perience  in  our  scientific  age.  The  so-called  con- 
flict between  science  and  religion  has  its  ground 
in  narrow  and  superficial  views  of  science  and  of 
religion.  One  is  almost  able  to  say  that  such  a  con- 
flict no  longer  exists  between  minds  of  the  first  rank 
either  among  scientists  or  ministers.  Christianity, 
at  its  best,  in  our  day  welcomes  in  the  very  name 
and  spirit  of  Christ  all  the  knowledge,  all  the 
investigation,  all  the  genuine  experimentation  of 
science.  And  Christianity  does  this,  not  with  the 
feeling  that  science  works  in  an  alien  realm,  but 
in  the  conviction  that  its  problems  lie  at  the  very 
heart  of  its  own  task,  the  task,  namely,  of  so  un- 
derstanding nature  and  life,  God  and  the  world 
and  man,  that  it  may  be  possible  to  build  more 
rapidly  and  more  securely  a  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  love  and  peace  upon  the  earth.  Religion 
needs  the  aid  of  science  to  abolish  superstition 
and  to  refine  the  tools  of  progress;  and  science 
needs  religion  to  keep  alive  the  ideal  meaning 
of  all  our  tasks,  and  to  make  luminous  and 
resplendent,  the  social,  spiritual  goal  of  all  our 
labor. 

When,  therefore,  the  Christian,  in  the  race  he 
runs,  looks  forward  to  Jesus  Christ,  he  should  see 
in  Him  not  an  arbitrary  mind,  nor  a  barrier  to 

83 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

progress,  but  a  free  spirit,  opening  the  course  and 
himself  urging  all  men  ever  onward  in  the  way. 
This  represents  the  ultimate  emancipation  of 
mankind.  It  was  of  profound  importance  to  free 
men  from  the  tyranny  of  the  moment  and  from 
the  bonds  of  immediate  experience  by  extending 
the  perspective  of  human  life  into  the  past  and 
preserving  there  the  great  characters  and  deeds 
of  history.  But  that  achievement  still  made  pos- 
sible a  fatal  bondage  —  the  bondage  of  tradition, 
of  precedent,  of  a  fixed  standard. 

The  other  emancipation,  in  which  the  human 
spirit  especially  rejoices  to-day,  is  release  from 
this  slavery  of  tradition.  Men  feel  themselves 
freer  than  ever  before  to  accept  from  any  culture 
of  the  past  its  rich  treasure,  without  thereby  be- 
coming the  devotees  of  all  the  elements  of  that 
culture,  or  forfeiting  the  right  to  accept  the  gifts 
of  other  peoples.  One  may  now,  at  last,  be  both  a 
Greek  and  a  Jew,  a  scientist  and  a  saint,  a  scholar 
and  a  Christian,  in  the  deepest  and  best  import 
of  these  terms. 

And  finally,  it  is  some  satisfaction  to  remind 
ourselves  that  the  writer  of  the  letter  to  the 
Hebrews  realized  that  the  cloud  of  witnesses  he 
described  were  not  themselves  perfect.  Those  who 

84 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

came  after  them  were  necessary  to  complete  what 
the  ancient  heroes  attempted  —  "God  having 
provided  some  better  thing  for  us,  that  they  with- 
out us  should  not  be  made  perfect."  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  greatest  men  of  the  past  ever  desired 
their  own  words  to  be  praised  as  the  final  state- 
ments of  truth,  or  their  deeds  as  the  end  of  per- 
fection. It  is  more  frequently  the  desire  of  the 
parent  that  the  child  should  accomplish  finer  and 
greater  things.  Every  right-thinking  man  who  is 
compelled  to  give  up  a  task  into  which  he  has  put 
his  life  is  happy  to  see  others  carry  it  on,  and  he 
is  doubly  happy  if  by  encouragement  and  ap- 
proval he  is  able  to  assist  them  to  surpass  his 
own  achievements.  Nothing  gives  finer  satisfac- 
tion to  a  teacher  than  to  be  outdone  in  his  own 
specialty  by  his  pupils. 

It  is  the  saving  salt  of  human  nature  that  this 
power  of  appreciation  is  greater  than  the  power 
of  creation.  Men  who  are  themselves  weak  and 
imperfect  in  moral  achievement,  may  yet  encour- 
age others  to  better  deeds.  The  earnest  approval 
of  good  men  by  those  less  virtuous  is  a  common 
thing,  and  such  approval  helps  to  make  the  good 
man  better.  As  has  been  said,  "  If  only  those  were 
allowed  to  uphold  standards  who  had  demon- 

85 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

strated  their  ability  to  live  up  to  them,  how  our 
reigning  ideals  would  suffer."  "Common  enough 
is  that  mild  predilection  for  the  right  which  is 
equal  to  supporting  some  one  else  under  tempta- 
tion." 

The  cloud  of  witnesses  is  not,  then,  superfluous 
or  cumbrous.  They  give  zest  to  the  contestants. 
Their  own  hopes  and  broken  efforts  yet  await  ful- 
fillment. They  are  able  to  appreciate  what  they 
could  not  accomplish.  Instead  of  restraining, 
they  urge  on  the  battle.  Whose  heart  is  not  quick- 
ened in  him  when  he  takes  up  his  daily  task  to 
think  that  there  are  those  who  care?  Who  is  not 
strengthened  against  temptation,  even  in  his  soli- 
tude, when  he  recalls  in  memory  a  pure  face  look- 
ing into  his?  And  who  does  not  feel  the  stirring 
ardor  in  a  company  of  human  souls  assembled  in 
a  quiet  place  of  worship,  striving  together  in  their 
wills  to  find  the  way  of  life  and  to  walk  in  it? 
Over  them  brood  the  spirits  of  the  mighty  dead, 
rank  on  rank  massing  themselves  upward  into  the 
mystic  amphitheater  of  memory  and  faith.  Who 
does  not  respond  to  their  presence  by  some  new 
dedication  of  his  being  to  the  race  they  ran  and 
to  which  they  urge  us  on? 

"Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about 
86 


THE  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES 

with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside 
every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily 
beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race 
that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author 
and  the  finisher  of  our  faith." 


REGENERATION 


REGENERATION 

"Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again." 
John  in,  7. 

THE  sermon  is  the  repetition  of  the  last  word  — 
Ye  must  be  born  again,  and  again,  and  again. 
Some  commentators  observe  that  a  stricter  trans- 
lation would  be,  "Ye  must  be  born  anew";  or, 
"Ye  must  be  born  from  above";  but  neither  of 
these  meanings  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of 
continuous  regeneration  or  rebirth,  which  several 
understand  the  text  to  emphasize.  The  same 
thought  often  recurs,  particularly  in  the  letters 
of  St.  Paul.  He  writes  to  the  Roman  Christians, 
"Be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your 
mind";  and  to  the  Ephesians,  "Be  renewed  in 
the  spirit  of  your  mind";  and  to  the  Colossians, 
"Lie  not  to  one  another  seeing  that  ye  have  put 
off  the  old  man  with  his  doings,  and  have  put  on 
the  new  man  which  is  being  renewed  unto  knowl- 
edge after  the  image  of  Him  that  created  him." 
In  the  history  of  Christianity  this  continuous 
regeneration  has  sometimes  been  displaced  by  the 
idea  of  a  unique,  cataclysmic  spiritual  experience, 

91 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

known  as  conversion.  As  one  is  born  into  the 
natural  world,  so,  it  is  contended,  one  must  expe- 
rience a  second  birth  into  the  spiritual  world. 
Whoever  knows  himself  to  have  experienced  this 
regeneration  is  a  Christian  and  worthy  to  be  a 
member  of  the  visible  church,  while  any  one  who 
has  not  felt  this  inner  event  remains  outside  the 
company  of  the  saved.  Great  agitation  arose  in 
the  early  days  of  this  country  over  the  nature  and 
necessity  of  the  second  birth.  The  Puritan  fathers 
held  strongly  to  the  doctrine  that  the  visible 
church  should  consist  of  none  but  evident  Chris- 
tians, and  none  were  admitted  to  the  adult  mem- 
bership of  the  churches  who  could  not  relate  some 
instance  of  the  transforming  operation  of  God  in 
their  own  lives.  But  their  children,  educated  and 
trained  in  the  Christian  faith,  moral  and  earnest 
in  their  lives,  yet  frequently  could  lay  claim  to  no 
such  experience  as  that  which  their  parents  had 
called  a  change  of  heart,  and  were  not  conscious 
of  anything  they  could  designate  as  the  work  of 
God  in  then*  souls.  Consequently  their  right  to 
membership  in  the  church  was  called  in  question. 
The  halfway  covenant,  as  it  was  called,  came  into 
use  during  the  seventeenth  century.  This  cove- 
nant permitted  such  unregenerate  members  to 

92 


REGENERATION 

remain  in  the  church,  and  entitled  them  to  trans- 
mit church  membership  to  their  children,  but  it  did 
not  entitle  them  to  partake  of  the  communion. 
The  ambiguities  and  perplexities  of  that  practice, 
however,  were  not  long  endured.  Its  critics 
charged  that  the  halfway  covenant  devitalized 
religion  and  scandalized  the  church.  Jonathan 
Edwards  denounced  it  and  the  course  of  strict 
orthodoxy  clung  to  the  doctrine  of  a  regenerate 
church  membership. 

Essentially  the  same  view  of  conversion  and 
of  the  necessity  of  such  a  regenerate  membership 
is  still  maintained  in  many  churches,  and  for  not 
a  few  whose  theory  of  the  world  no  longer  includes 
original  sin  and  miracles  of  grace,  there  yet  sur- 
vives the  vague  feeling  that  religion  is  only  for 
those  who  are  peculiarly  gifted  for  it  or  have  had 
it  thrust  upon  them  by  some  unusual  experience.^ 
The  consequence  is  that  conscientious  persons 
sometimes  make  pathetic  efforts  to  find  evidence 
in  their  lives  of  a  divine  visitation,  and  not  in- 
frequently attach  undue  importance  to  merely 
incidental  and  even  grotesque  phenomena.  Thus 
in  the  great  Cane  Ridge  Revival  in  Kentucky  at 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  men  and  women 
thought  themselves  spiritually  transformed  be- 

93 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

cause,  during  the  preaching  and  exhortations, 
they  fell  down  in  trances,  or  jumped  about  in 
muscular  paroxysms,  or  became  subject  to  what 
was  called  the  "barking  exercise."  Others  re- 
ceived their  assurance  in  the  form  of  visions  and 
voices;  flashes  of  light  and  dreams. 

Equally  pathetic  have  been  the  negative  cases 
of  those  who  sincerely  sought  some  token  but 
found  none.  They  were  not  encouraged  to  at- 
tach religious  importance  to  those  natural  im- 
pulses and  awakenings  which  are  the  normal 
expressions  of  the  spiritual  tendencies  of  human 
nature,  and  were  therefore  forced,  in  spite  of  their 
moral  earnestness  and  sincere  sympathy  with 
Christian  ideals,  to  regard  themselves  as  unre- 
generate  and  unfit  for  membership  in  the  church. 
One  still  meets  people  who  explain  their  aloofness 
from  the  Church  by  saying  they  never  experi- 
enced the  feeling  which  they  consider  as  the  pri- 
mary requisite.  They  seem  not  to  imagine  that  this 
"feeling"  may  be  in  any  way  within  their  control, 
subject  to  their  own  volition  and  dependent  upon 
objective  activities  and  natural  relationships. 
Unfortunately  in  our  common  English  version  of 
the  New  Testament  the  appeal  to  become  Chris- 
tians is  uniformly  mistranslated,  so  that  men 

94 


REGENERATION  . 

read  that  they  are  to  "be  converted";  whereas  * 
the  verb  so  rendered  is  active  and  carries  a  sum- 
mons to  turn,  or  turn  yourselves  to  God.  "In 
the  New  Testament,"  says  an  authority,  "con- 
version is  always  represented  as  man's  act  —  an 
act  of  which  he  is  capable  under  the  appeal  and  -^"" 
influence  of  the  truth." 

It  is  difficult  for  men  to  attach  the  same  spirit- 
ual importance  to  acts  which  they  involuntarily 
perform  and  those  which  they  deliberately  initi- 
ate. Among  primitive  peoples  an  entirely  dis- 
proportionate value  is  attributed  to  involuntary 
acts,  such  as  talking  hi  sleep,  or  raving  in  delirium. 
Sneezing,  for  example,  is  thought  so  evidently 
due  to  a  seizure  by  some  spirit  that  it  is  commonly 
followed  by  a  salutation  and  prayer  formula  pre- 
scribed by  custom.  Something  of  this  same  rev- 
erence for  passive  states  of  feeling  survives  in  the 
popular  idea  that  unusual  potency  and  meaning 
belong  to  spontaneous  mental  events  and  to 
ecstatic  emotions. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  modern  psychology  has 
made  some  of  its  most  important  contributions 
to  the  understanding  of  religion.    It  recognizes 
that  the  soul  does  experience  awakenings,  often    , 
intense  and  transforming,  which  are  truly         1^ 

95 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

births,  and  it  recognizes  that  these  new  births 
occur  again  and  again  and  again.  The  period 
of  youth  is  preeminently  the  time  of  great  emo- 
tional crises,  of  conversions,  of  the  attainment 
of  insight  and  enthusiasm  with  reference  to  all 
racial  and  social  ideals.  It  is  the  epoch  in  which 
the  individual  not  only  naturally  becomes  reli- 
gious, but  also  patriotic  and  domestic  and  so- 
cially enlightened.  Under  anything  like  normal 
conditions,  youth  responds  to  the  moods  of  na- 
ture, and  to  the  appeals  of  the  great  institutions 
of  society  with  a  spontaneity  and  an  inner  com- 
pulsion which  are  among  the  most  impressive 
and  reassuring  phenomena  of  human  life.  That 
is  the  time  when  men  most  readily  volunteer  in 
the  service  of  their  country;  when  they  are  willing 
to  enter  upon  long  and  arduous  apprenticeships 
for  professions  and  business;  when  they  are 
capable  of  stupendous  deprivations  and  labors 
through  romantic  attachments;  and  when  also 
they  are  most  able  to  be  enthralled  by  the  vision 
of  a  kingdom  of  utter  love  and  good  will  among 
men. 

This  initial  experience  may  be  crucial  and  de- 
cisive. It  may  give  the  set  and  curve  to  the  whole 
aftercourse  of  life.  Few  persons  take  up  new 

96 


REGENERATION 

interests,  either  ideal  or  practical,  after  the  period 
of  adolescence.  It  is  notoriously  difficult  to  form 
intimate  friendships  after  that  time.  But  even 
in  youth  these  choices  are  seldom  abrupt  and 
momentary.  They  have  been  prepared  for  by 
gradual  development,  by  ripening  of  powers,  and 
by  cumulative  experiences.  The  records  of  reli- 
gious awakenings  show  the  influence  of  environ- 
ment, of  early  training,  of  temperament  and  of 
direct  suggestion.  They  vary  as  much  with  refer- 
ence to  the  duration  of  the  period  of  inquiry  and 
suspense,  and  the  manner  of  final  decision,  as  do 
the  choice  of  vocations  and  the  formation  of  life 
partnerships.  It  is  also  a  notable  fact  that  a 
single  conversion,  however  impressive  and  au- 
thentic it  may  seem  to  be,  seldom  gives  a  man 
complete  satisfaction  and  security.  Is  not  the 
literature  of  personal  piety  full  of  misgivings  and 
apprehensions  concerning  the  salvation  of  souls 
which  once  thought  themselves  redeemed,  but 
have  later  become  perplexed  and  confused?  Do 
they  not  seek  the  repetition  of  the  conversion 
experience,  with  its  renewed  sense  of  the  divine 
presence  and  comfort? 

When  one  compares  religious  life  with  intellec- 
tual development  or  with  professional  pursuits, 

97 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

the  successive  stages  in  all  of  them  seem  quite 
similar.  The  first  essential  is  the  development 
of  interest  in  a  given  direction.  It  is  not  so  im- 
portant how  that  interest  awakens,  if  it  be  genu- 
ine and  vital.  It  may  arise  from  some  other  per- 
son's urgent  persuasion,  or  from  a  book  one  has 
read,  or  from  a  character  one  has  admired.  The 
momentous  question  may  be  decided  in  a  restless 
night  of  anxiety,  or  during  a  quiet  walk  by  the 
seashore,  or  in  a  public  assembly.  There  are 
endless  variations  of  circumstance  in  connection 
with  the  decision  to  be  a  lawyer,  a  mathematician, 
a  Christian.  Probably  most  men  could  not  give 
any  clear  account  of  the  beginnings  of  their  deep- 
est interests.  These  interests  have  sprung  from 
familiar  associations  and  have  grown  strong  in 
a  congenial  atmosphere  without  much  introspec- 
tion or  conflict.  The  investigations  of  such  ex- 
periences show  that  a  painful  or  ecstatic  beginning 
is  no  more  a  guaranty  of  a  successful  religious 
career  than  it  is  of  a  successful  legal  or  scientific 
career. 

But  what  is  constantly  emphasized  in  all  great 
human  characters  is  that  they  have  continually 
met  crises  and  tasks  which  elicited  new  powers, 
new  manifestations  of  energy  and  talent.  If  the 

98 


REGENERATION 

realms  of  science  and  art  are  so  vast  and  so  com- 
plex that  they  confront  the  greatest  geniuses  with 
new  levels  and  unsuspected  areas  to  be  possessed, 
it  might  be  expected  that  religion,  comprehend- 
ing, as  it  does,  all  the  ideal  values  and  relation- 
ships of  life,  would  also  offer  to  common  men  and 
to  spiritual  geniuses  likewise,  perpetual  regenera- 
tion and  rebirth.  In  education,  a  student  passes 
from  grade  to  grade;  from  grammar  school  to 
high  school;  from  high  school  to  college;  from  col- 
lege to  the  university  and  professional  school, 
with  every  year  opening  new  fields  and  demand- 
ing inner  development  and  awakening.  And  at 
its  best,  life  beyond  the  schools  unfolds  in  epochs 
and  opportunities,  which,  though  less  formally 
discriminated,  are  equally  real  and  exacting. 
Religion  ought  also  to  be  viewed  hi  a  similar  per- 
spective in  order  that  there  might  be  some  rea- 
sonable gradation  of  spiritual  tasks  in  the  f  ulfill- 
ment  of  which  a  man  might  gain  the  consciousness 
of  mastery  and  progress.  Too  many  men  who 
have  graduated  from  college  still  possess  only  a 
kindergarten  experience  of  religion.  Strong  men 
of  affairs,  who  have  made  their  way  into  large 
industries  and  technical  arts,  cannot  be  equally 
expert  in  religion  without  having  lived  in  its 

99 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

atmosphere  and  shared  in  its  modern  growing 
life.  They  may  not  know,  for  example,  what  the 
Modernist  Movement  is,  or  the  new  social  re- 
ligion which  is  permeating  all  the  churches,  or 
the  mighty  impetus  toward  federation  and  union 
in  all  denominations,  or  the  awakening  energy, 
under  the  stimulus  of  international  contact,  in 
the  great  world  religions.  Neither  in  the  realm 
of  personal  piety,  nor  of  religious  theory,  nor  of 
objective  charity  and  philanthropy  have  there 
ever  been  such  reasonable  and  persuasive  appeals 
to  all  classes  of  good  and  vigorous  men  to  be  born 
again  into  still  larger  religious  life. 

How,  then,  may  we  conceive  definitely  and 
cogently  of  this  life  of  the  spirit  which  summons 
us  to  perpetual  regeneration?  There  are  many 
ways  of  formulating  it  and  of  bodying  it  forth  in 
symbol  and  in  deed.  I  here  choose  three  expres- 
sions for  it,  intending  thereby  to  release  and  stim- 
ulate our  thought  of  it,  rather  than  to  exhibit 
any  set  theory  or  formal  pattern. 
>  First,  let  us  conceive  the  religious  life  as  sym- 
bolized by  Jesus  Christ.  We  think  of  it,  then,  as 
loyalty  to  the  principles  He  taught  and  the  prac- 
tice of  such  graciousness  and  such  heroic  idealism 
as  He  displayed.  We  cherish  his  faith  and  his 

100 


REGENERATION 

buoyant  optimism.  We  see,  with  Him,  a  marvel- 
ous Providence  in  the  laws  of  nature  and  in  hu- 
man history.  We  come  to  believe  so  profoundly 
in  the  spiritual  qualities  of  human  hearts  that  we 
see  virtues  and  new  moral  possibilities  in  publi- 
cans and  sinners.  We  pray  for  them  that  persecute 
us.  We  cultivate  love  for  our  enemies.  We  set 
before  ourselves  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and 
peace  and  joy,  and  we  forego  anxious  thought  for 
any  external  goods  or  worldly  station. 

When  we  sin,  we  think  of  Christ;  how  it  dis- 
honors Him;  how  tenderly  He  forgives  us;  and 
how  He  strengthens  our  wills  for  better  things 
ahead.  When  life  goes  utterly  against  us,  for- 
tunes fail,  hopes  wane,  and  death  waits  —  then, 
too,  we  lay  hold  on  Christ,  our  comforter,  our 
strength,  and  our  immortal  life. 

All  this  and  far  more  is  Jesus  Christ  to  the  liv- 
ing heart  of  the  Church.  Men  naturally  think  in 
personal  terms,  and  the  personality  of  Christ  for 
these  thousands  of  years  has  been  the  central 
figure  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  drama  of  millions 
of  men.  When  they  sinned  against  other  men  it 
was  against  Him  too.  When  they  achieved  good 
works,  it  was  by  his  help;  and  when  they  faced 
untried  ways,  He  walked  by  their  side.  The 

101 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Church  has  made  its  ritual  around  the  events  of 
Christ's  earthly  life,  —  his  birth,  death,  and  resur- 
rection, —  and  its  hymns  and  prayers  witness  to 
his  living  presence  in  the  imagination  of  the  wor- 
shipers. Therefore,  it  is  the  simplest  and  most 
natural  statement  of  what  is  meant  by  religion  to 
say  that  it  is  the  life  of  Christ  reproduced  in  the 
lives  of  men.  It  is  affection  for  Him,  obedience  to 
Him,  and  faithfulness  to  his  spirit.  One  cannot 
miss  the  essential  things  of  religion  if  he  takes  it 
in  this  way,  always  careful  to  appreciate  the 
breadth  and  richness  of  Christ's  teaching  and  the 
continuous  development  which  it  enjoins. 

But  it  is  possible  also  to  define  religion  in  quite 
different  terms.  One  may  say  it  is  the  acceptance 
of  the  standards  and  ideals  of  his  family,  of  his 
teachers,  and  of  the  great  characters  of  the  day 
in  which  he  lives.  Many  persons  formulate  their 
highest  values  in  that  way.  They  appropriate  the 
practical  precepts  and  moral  principles,  without 
the  phraseology  or  forms  of  piety.  There  are 
doubtless  excellent  members  of  all  churches  who 
maintain  this  matter-of-fact  attitude.  They  may 
have  little  capacity  or  taste  for  forms  or  for  doc- 
trinal statements.  There  are  certainly  numerous 
excellent  Christians  who  have  no  musical  knowl- 

102 


REGENERATION 

edge  or  skill,  and  it  is  conceivable  that  similarly 
many  lack  that  vivid  imagination  and  emotional 
power  which  the  fullest  use  of  symbolism  and 
ritual  involves.  If,  then,  some  individuals  protest 
that  their  religion  consists  in  doing  the  best  they 
can  to  live  a  good  life,  according  to  the  standards 
of  the  best  men  about  them,  that  cannot  lead 
them  far  astray.  It  is  only  necessary  that  they 
take  themselves  seriously  in  that  position,  and 
feel  some  moral  urgency  and  responsibility  for  the 
actual  realization  of  those  ideals.  No  matter  how 
adequate  the  theoretical  formulation  of  religious 
standards  may  be,  it  is  essential  that  they  appeal 
to  the  will  and  thus  lead  on  from  one  achievement 
to  another.  It  is  more  important  hi  religion  that 
a  man  follow  vigorously  whatever  ideals  he  may 
possess,  provided  they  are  live  and  growing  ideals, 
than  it  is  that  he  have  superior  theories  of  life 
without  the  will  to  pursue  them.  For  when  a  per- 
son begins  to  take  life  seriously  at  any  point,  it 
has  a  marvelous  way  of  leading  him  on  and  on 
through  birth  after  birth,  into  fuller  participation 
and  into  larger  relationships. 

A  third  possible  statement  of  religion  is  that  it 
emphasizes  the  spiritual  qualities  of  all  the  great 
constructive  interests  of  society  and  seeks  to 

103 


organize  them  into  an  impressive  and  inspiring 
unity.  Religion  is  thus  viewed  as  the  deepest 
reality  in  science,  in  art,  and  in  social  relationship. 
The  chief  concern  of  science  is  the  discovery 
and  presentation  of  the  truth;  the  great  object 
of  art  is  the  vision  and  expression  of  beauty. 
The  saving  quality  of  business  is  integrity;  the 
great  quest  of  industry  is  efficiency,  and  the 
one  essential  of  social  organization  is  good  will. 
Wherever  men  are  engaged  upon  the  great  fun- 
damental human  interests,  they  are  occupied 
with  the  vital  things  of  religion.  It  is  only  in  the 
vicious  and  whimsical  and  purposeless  activities 
that  religion  does  not  appear,  for  it  cannot  exist 
together  with  the  inconsistencies  of  evil  wills,  or 
with  the  caprice  of  insincere  hearts.  Religion,  at 
its  best,  exalts  the  truth  of  science,  the  beauty  of 
art,  the  integrity  of  business,  the  industry  of  labor 
and  the  companionship  of  love.  It  seeks  the  full- 
ness of  life.  Unlike  science  or  art  or  industry,  it 
cannot  be  content  with  a  part  or  with  a  fragment 
of  the  whole.  It  demands  all  of  these  together  in 
a  living  organic  unity  of  social  action.  And  this 
unity  is  nothing  forced  or  artificial.  It  is  a  na- 
tural unity  which  all  human  life  craves.  It  is  the 
oneness  of  family  life,  and  it  is  the  group  con- 

104 


REGENERATION 

sciousness  of  the  patriotic  and  loyal  community 
taken  as  a  whole.  It  is  the  function  of  religion  to 
promote  and  symbolize  this  unity.  The  more  spe- 
cialized men's  pursuits  become,  the  more  impor- 
tant is  it  to  make  clear  the  interdependence  of 
all  individuals  in  the  common  life  and  to  attract 
each  separate,  solitary  person  into  the  fellowship 
of  the  ideal  community. 

In  some  such  ways  may  religion  be  conceived, 
as  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  fidelity  to  the  inher- 
ited social  tradition  at  its  best,  and  as  devotion 
to  the  inner  spirit  and  meaning  of  special  pursuits, 
taken  in  their  natural  implications.  In  all  of  these 
conceptions  there  is  presented  an  ideal  to  be  pro- 
gressively realized  by  the  ceaseless  renewal  and 
development  of  one's  nature,  and  of  the  social 
order  itself.  This  process  need  no  longer  be 
thought  entirely  unaccountable  or  mysterious. 
It  takes  place  in  ways  which  are  more  and  more 
brought  into  relation  with  all  experiences  of  intel- 
lectual enlargement  and  of  the  strivings  of  the 
will.  So  far  from  being  exceptional,  such  awak- 
enings are  normal  phenomena  of  all  live  and  eager 
minds.  In  the  natural  course  of  events  every  in- 
dividual is  subject  to  many  influences  which  offer 
him  entrance  into  new  life.  By  attention  to  these 

105 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

and  to  the  stirrings  of  his  soul  within  him,  he  may 
learn  how  to  take  advantage  of  them  for  the  re- 
finement of  his  spiritual  nature  and  the  attain- 
ment of  a  more  Christ-like  stature. 
*  The  great  lif e  of  Nature  often  draws  men  into 
moods  and  impulses  where  new  and  better  worlds 
are  made  more  easily  accessible.  The  poets 
know  how  to  convey  the  qualities  of  such  mo- 
ments. Thus  one  writes:  — 

"Perchance  we  first  time  really  see  a  flower! 

Some  inward  grandeur — unsuspect — makes  cry! 
Or  other's  nobleness  enchains  our  view! 

In  such  exquisitely  informing  hour 
Earth's  old  futilities  pass  downcast  by, 

And  life  on  sudden  takes  eternal  hue." 

^ .  Or,  again,  it  is  a  great  unselfish  life  silhouetted 
against  some  vast  human  need.  Such  was  the  in- 
fluence which  transformed  Stanley  when  he  found 
Livingstone  in  the  heart  of  Africa.  Stanley  said: 
"For  four  months  and  four  days  I  lived  with  him 
in  the  same  hut,  or  in  the  same  tent,  and  I  never 
found  a  fault  with  him.  I  went  to  Africa  a  preju- 
diced man  against  religion,  and  the  worst  infidel 
in  London.  To  a  reporter  like  myself,  who  had 
only  to  deal  with  wars,  mass  meetings,  and  polit- 
ical gatherings,  sentimental  matters  were  quite 

106 


REGENERATION 

out  of  my  province.  But  there  came  to  me  a  long 
time  of  reflection.  I  was  out  there  away  from  a 
worldly  world.  I  saw  this  solitary  old  man  there, 
and  I  asked  myself,  *Why  does  he  stop  here? 
What  is  it  that  inspires  him?'  For  months  after 
we  met  I  found  myself  listening  to  him,  wondering 
at  the  old  man  carrying  out  the  words,  'Leave  all 
and  follow  me.'  But  little  by  little,  seeing  his 
piety,  his  gentleness,  his  zeal,  his  earnestness,  and 
how  he  went  quietly  about  his  business,  I  was  con- 
verted by  him." 

In  conclusion  I  mention  one  of  the  most  potent 
and  penetrating  influences  for  moral  purification 
and  renewal  —  the  influence  of  a  company  of  peo- 
ple brought  together  and  dominated  by  an  ele- 
vating appreciation  and  a  noble  purpose.  It  is 
experienced  at  times  in  listening  to  a  great  orches- 
tra. The  musicians  have  lived  through  the  day 
quite  as  other  men,  worried  by  little  practicalities, 
teaching  difficult  pupils,  meeting  creditors,  rack- 
ing their  minds  for  some  increment  of  comfort  on 
the  morrow.  Individually,  they  bear  the  shifting 
fortunes  of  fate  as  best  they  can,  often  with  dis- 
appointed ambitions,  with  doubts  of  themselves 
and  of  the  world,  with  occasional  half-holidays 
and  their  fitful  joys.  But  now  they  are  parts 

107 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

of  the  orchestra.  They  are  lifted  out  of  them- 
selves by  the  theme  of  the  symphony  and  are 
carried  by  the  very  harmony  they  create  into  an 
ideal  world  of  beauty  and  mystery.  And  that  di- 
viner world  opens  also,  in  some  measure,  for  all 
who  hear  what  the  musicians  feel.  Fatigue  and 
ennui,  selfish  cares  and  petty  apprehensions  are 
forgotten.  For  the  time,  the  hard  lines  relax  and 
one  of  the  great  "melting  moods"  radiates  as  by 
one  impulse  through  all  hearts. 

Something  like  that  is  often  achieved  for  us  by 
religion.  It  gathers  our  weak  and  wavering  hu- 
man natures  around  the  ancient  altars  of  faith 
and  aspiration.  It  sounds  out  the  great  notes  of 
forgiveness,  of  encouragement,  of  divine  com- 
panionship and  spiritual  renewal.  It  elevates 
the  symbols  of  sacrificial  love  and  of  immortal 
hope.  The  invisible  and  eternal  things,  at  other 
times  often  obscured  and  forgotten,  are  now 
brought  near  and  made  real  again.  Every  man 
who  sincerely  yields  himself  to  the  influences  of 
these  hours  of  worship  feels  himself  quickened  and 
ennobled.  In  such  moments  the  gates  of  new  life 
open  and  we  are  born  again. 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree  that 
is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food;  the  tree  of  life  also  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
Gen.  m,  9. 

In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was 
there  the  tree  of  life.  Rev.  xxn,  2. 

IT  is  significant  that  in  the  first  and  last  books 
of  the  Bible,  the  tree  of  life  has  a  central  place. 
It  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  and 
of  the  heavenly  paradise.  Religion  throughout 
its  history  is  just  the  quest  for  life  —  sometimes 
life  on  a  physical  plane,  in  basket  and  in  store,  in 
flocks  and  fruits  of  the  field,  but  also  at  times 
life  which  is  more  than  meat.  In  early  Hebrew 
tradition,  Abraham  moved  out  from  his  ancestral 
place  into  a  far  country,  seeking  a  freer  and 
richer  life.  Moses,  summoning  the  tribes  of  Is- 
rael, led  them  toward  a  more  fruitful  country, 
toward  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 
Jesus  leads  onward  in  the  same  great  quest 
and  from  his  heart  bursts  the  cry:  "I  have  come 
that  ye  may  have  life  and  have  it  more  abun- 
dantly." 

Ill 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

The  deepest  thing  in  all  human  experience  is 
precisely  this  craving  for  self-fulfillment,  self- 
satisfaction.  It  is  this  which  has  stirred  the  race 
from  its  earliest  infancy.  It  is  this  which  pulses 
now  in  the  life  of  nations.  It  is  this  which  makes 
us  labor,  suffer,  and  aspire.  This  quest  for  life 
is  the  deepest,  divinest  thing  in  us,  and  in  its 
intensest,  most  ideal  form,  it  is  the  very  heart  and 
soul  of  religion.  Everything  religious  is  to  be  in- 
terpreted in  terms  of  this  craving.  Many  people 
take  religion  mechanically,  externally,  institu- 
tionally, without  any  understanding  of  its  inner, 
pulsing  spirit.  But  none  of  the  deeds  or  doctrines, 
or  forms  of  worship  can  be  at  all  understood  in 
their  real  meaning  except  as  the  expression  of  this 
will  to  live,  this  ceaseless,  indomitable  instinct 
for  life.  In  the  successive  ages  of  man,  in  the  gi- 
gantic struggles  which  history  records,  it  is  hunger 
for  the  bread  of  life  which  throbs  at  the  heart  ol 
primitive  and  of  spiritual  religions. 

Consider  deeds.  The  great  question  which 
men  are  always  asking  is,  "What  must  we  do  to 
inherit  life,"  or,  "What  must  we  do  to  be  saved?*' 
The  deeds  of  religion  are  developed  in  terms  of 
this  desire.  In  the  early  Hebrew  religion,  it  was 
a  matter  of  cultus.  One  must  observe  customary 

11* 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

rites,  such  as  sacrifice.  One  must  keep  the  tra- 
ditions and  observe  the  institutional  forms. 

In  the  time  of  the  great  prophets,  this  mechan- 
ical, external  cultus  was  held  not  to  be  sufficient. 
Sacrifices  and  the  observation  of  mere  forms  of 
worship  were  felt  to  be  hindrances  and  abomina- 
tions. They  asked  themselves  the  simple,  heart- 
searching  question:  "What  does  the  Lord  thy 
God  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justice,  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?" 

When  Jesus  was  asked  in  his  time  what  a  man 
must  do  in  order  to  gain  life,  He  gave  very  simple 
answers:  Love  your  neighbor,  give  to  the  poor. 
Cultivate  gentleness  and  kindliness,  for  the  world 
suffers  because  of  selfishness,  hatred,  and  narrow- 
ness of  heart.  Life  for  each  and  all  is  to  be  found 
in  an  attitude  of  neighborliness,  of  great  generos- 
ity, the  giving  of  the  best  we  possess  for  others. 
The  disciples  were  enjoined  to  go  into  all  the 
world  to  tell  this  message  of  love  and  service,  in 
order  that  men  everywhere  might  be  healed  and 
find  health  and  strength.  Men  were  to  be  re- 
leased from  their  prisons,  their  minds  freed  from 
hatred  and  enmity,  and  their  spirits  brought  into 
the  kingdom  of  fraternity  and  good  will. 

What  are  the  earnest  people  of  our  time  seeking 
113 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

to  do  in  order  to  have  life?  What  is  the  socialist 
seeking  to  do?  What  is  the  modern  man  trying 
to  do  with  all  the  resources  of  science  at  his  com- 
mand? They  are  seeking  just  what  religionists 
have  always  been  seeking.  They  are  trying  to 
enter  into  greater  riches,  trying  to  gain  health 
and  beauty  and  a  larger  use  of  their  powers.  So, 
in  the  world,  here  and  now,  and  in  coming  time, 
men  shall  be  able  to  lay  hold  on  vaster  and  more 
satisfying  treasures  of  life.  The  cries  of  the 
wounded  and  distressed  are  the  cries  of  those  who 
suffer  and  are  broken  by  ways  which  are  not  re- 
ligious. Sometimes  through  their  own  mistakes, 
and  often  by  the  sins  of  others,  they  are  shut  out 
from  life  by  injustice  and  ignorance  and  narrow 
selfishness. 

The  doctrines  of  religion  are  also  determined 
in  terms  of  this  quest  for  life.  What  must  a  man 
believe  in  order  to  have  abundant  life?  He  must 
believe  those  things  which  in  his  living  experience 
are  necessary  for  guidance,  for  satisfaction,  for 
the  fulfillment  of  life  in  manifold  and  ideal  ways. 
These  things  change  from  age  to  age.  An  illus- 
tration may  be  given  in  terms  of  belief  about 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  apostolic  age,  men  had  to 
believe  that  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead; 

114 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

that  was  the  great  common  belief  with  refer- 
ence to  Him.  But  it  was  a  faith  which  involved 
further  and  more  ultimate  conviction.  Believing 
that  Jesus  had  come  to  earth  to  lead  men  into  a 
larger,  more  adequate  life,  his  resurrection  was 
regarded  as  a  sign  that  accompanied  Him,  a  sym- 
bol of  his  power  and  of  his  possession  of  God's 
truth.  Therefore,  belief  that  Jesus  was  raised 
from  the  dead  signified  faith  in  Him  as  the  Lord 
of  life. 

Later  Jesus  was  regarded  as  the  Divine  Logos, 
the  Eternal  Spirit  of  the  world  according  to  the 
Greek  conception.  He  was  the  incarnation  of  this 
Logos,  a  living  word  of  God. 

Again  came  an  age  of  conflict,  and  strife,  an 
age  when  the  Church  had  gained  power  and  was 
able  to  command  legions  of  mediaeval  knights  to 
fight  its  battles.  Jesus  was  believed  in  at  this 
tune  as  a  king,  a  conqueror,  riding  upon  a  charger, 
sword  in  hand,  gorgeous  with  emblems  and  in- 
signia of  power. 

To  believe  in  Christ  to-day  is  to  believe  in  none 
of  these  things,  primarily,  but  to  believe  in  Him 
with  reference  to  what  we  are  now  trying  to  do. 
How  does  this  age  seek  life?  It  seeks  life  through 
knowledge,  through  expert  acquaintance  with  the 

115 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

laws  of  nature.  More  than  ever  before,  man  sets 
for  himself  the  task  of  understanding  the  world, 
our  human  nature,  and  the  scale  of  our  moral 
values.  The  supreme  need  is  to  know  what  things 
are  little  and  what  things  are  great.  Therefore, 
Jesus  becomes  in  this  age  one  who  must  be  be- 
lieved in  as  a  great  teacher,  as  a  man  of  fresh, 
moral  insight,  as  a  revealer  of  the  kingdom  of 
love  and  righteousness,  and  a  guide  to  its  fulfill- 
ment. When  we  seek  knowledge  and  insight  with 
reference  to  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  conduct 
of  life,  we  cannot  ask  for  miracles  or  for  military 
power,  but  must  seek  illumination  of  the  mind, 
quickening  of  spirit,  arousing  of  affection  and 
will  toward  ideal  interests.  Therefore,  Jesus  is 
one  who  proclaims  anew  the  supremacy  of  truth, 
and  declares  it  to  the  world  now,  as  to  his  dis- 
ciples of  old.  The  Church  increasingly  invites 
people  to  believe  in  Christ  with  reference  to  this 
greatest,  most  fundamental  need  at  the  present 
time  —  the  need  of  knowledge  and  of  rational 
ideals  of  life. 

The  same  principle  may  be  illustrated  by  other 
great  doctrines  of  the  Church.  Belief  in  the  Scrip- 
tures at  one  time  involved  a  belief  in  many  formal 
statements  about  the  Scriptures,  even  faith  in 

116 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

verbal  inspiration.  For  many  people,  faith  in  the 
uniform  and  equal  authority  of  the  different 
books  of  the  Bible  is  essential  to  their  belief  in  the 
book  as  an  unique  revelation  of  God's  will.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  increasing  numbers  of  Chris- 
tians, faith  in  the  Scriptures  means  faith  in  them 
as  a  body  of  literature  in  which  is  recorded  the 
spiritual  experiences  of  the  Hebrew  people  and  of 
the  early  Christian  Church,  struggling  to  attain 
life  for  the  race  and  for  the  community.  Modern 
belief  in  the  Scriptures  is  belief  in  them  as  an  illu- 
minating record  of  that  great  Hebraic  quest  for 
life.  The  Scriptures  disclose  to  sensitive,  alert 
minds  the  fundamental  realities  of  spiritual  ex- 
perience. In  them  are  many  suggestions,  many 
dramatic  incidents  by  which  our  minds  and 
hearts  are  quickened  in  the  pursuit  of  the  noblest 
ideals.  There  is  nothing  hard  and  fast,  nothing 
mechanical  or  literal  about  them.  They  are  always 
revealing  the  great,  urgent  need  of  the  human 
heart  for  infinite  reality. 

It  is  the  same  with  reference  to  our  belief  in 
God.  Some  past  beliefs  in  God  are  so  antago- 
nistic, so  repugnant  to  present  views,  that  to 
believe  them  would  make  us  worse  than  infidels. 
They  belong  to  faiths  upon  which  the  human 

117 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

heart  once  rested,  but  which  no  longer  inspire  us. 
To-day,  chiefly  in  the  social  relations  of  human 
beings,  such  as  parent  and  child,  and  friend  -with 
friend,  we  find  that  idea  of  God  which  satisfies 
our  deepest  needs  and  which  may  be  believed  in 
without  doing  injury  to  the  other  things  which 
we  know  to  be  true. 

Forms  of  worship,  like  deeds  and  beliefs,  also 
rise  in  the  quest  for  life  and  have  value  as  they 
express  it  and  sustain  it.  Perhaps  the  Church,  in 
its  practices  of  worship,  may  be  best  understood 
when  thought  of  as  a  company  of  people  who  are 
searching  everywhere  for  those  things  that  give 
the  greatest  health  and  power  and  efficiency  to 
all  human  beings.  Thinking  of  the  Church  thus, 
as  a  company  of  people  who  would  like  to  know 
what  is  best  to  do,  and  what  is  the  most  helpful 
to  believe,  inspiration  and  spiritual  health  are 
found  in  its  services.  In  the  work-a-day  world 
we  are  confronted  constantly  by  failure  and  by 
the  tragedies  of  life  which  break  our  hearts  and 
humble  us  to  the  dust.  They  cast  clouds  over  us 
and  we  cannot  see  our  way.  Then  we  come  to  the 
Church  and  dramatize  in  imagination  the  great, 
vivid,  appealing  experiences  of  the  race  at  its 
best.  We  sing,  "Come  ye  disconsolate,  where'er 

118 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

ye  languish,"  as  though  here,  in  this  moment,  we 
were  in  close  and  vital  communion  with  the  un- 
diminished  forces  and  agencies  of  the  spiritual 
universe.  By  reaffirming  in  hymns  and  prayers 
and  meditations  the  achievements  of  the  past, 
and  the  hopes  of  our  hearts,  we  are  able  to  see  the 
meaning  of  life  again,  to  see  it  steadily  and  to  see 
it  whole.  We  are  able  to  assess  the  experiences 
through  which  we  have  come,  reverses  of  fortune, 
disasters  and  tragedies,  faults  and  sins,  and  to  rise 
above  them.  Through  the  way  of  suffering  love 
and  new  resolves,  we  come  to  regard  them  as 
incidents,  as  events  which  do  not  count,  as  things 
which,  at  most,  only  discipline  us,  and  give  us 
more  adequate  capacity  for  the  finer,  more  satis- 
fying things  of  life.  The  ritual,  stately  and  re- 
fined, is  precisely  the  dramatization  of  these  great 
crucial  moments  of  adventure,  of  defeat  and  re- 
covery in  the  soul's  unresting  aspiration.  When 
we  sympathetically  open  our  hearts,  and  go  into 
a  place  of  worship,  participate  in  the  spirit  of  the 
service,  if  not  always  in  the  literal  thought  and 
language,  share  in  the  moods  that  vibrate  through 
the  prayers,  and  follow  the  minister's  words, 
in  their  ideal  intent,  is  it  not  true  that  we  find 
ourselves  back  upon  the  heights  where  the  visions 

119 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

of  life  come  clear  and  shining,  full  of  fascinating 
grandeur  and  sublimity?  This  state  is  no  mere 
emotional  ecstasy,  but  a  certain,  convincing  reaf- 
firmation  of  the  things  which  the  best  and  greatest 
minds  of  the  world  have  found  good  and  beautiful. 

It  is  just  a  clearer  view  of  the  things  which 
the  people  who  seemed  to  have  least  of  them  af- 
firmed to  be  the  best.  It  has  often  happened  in 
the  history  of  religion  that  those  individuals  who 
have  had  the  most  reverses,  the  least  success,  the 
smallest  share  of  material  goods,  have  been  the 
people  in  whom  the  spiritual  vision  was  clearest. 
But  at  times,  also,  people  surfeited  with  outward 
goods,  understand,  too,  these  things  upon  which 
souls  are  truly  nourished.  These  are  the  things 
which  wise  parents  crave  for  their  children. 
These  are  the  things  to  which  a  man  clings  when 
death  confronts  him.  These  are  the  things  which 
are  always  emerging  out  of  our  experience,  tran- 
scending all  the  levels  of  cant,  of  superstition,  and 
of  sacerdotalism.  These  are  the  eternal  values  of 
the  divine  life  in  the  soul  of  man. 

Religious  services  are  the  means  by  which  con- 
gregations of  people  in  pursuit  of  life's  ideals  take 
their  reckonings.  It  is  like  looking  at  our  watches 
to  see  what  time  it  is;  or  employing  a  compass  to 

120 


ascertain  the  direction  in  which  we  are  traveling; 
or  surveying  a  map  to  discern  the  thoroughfares 
through  which  our  journey  runs.  This  experience 
of  public  religious  worship  is,  in  its  largest  sense, 
no  mere  aesthetic  indulgence,  no  mere  recreation  of 
mind  or  heart.  It  is  an  unfolding  of  life,  a  moving 
experience  of  the  things  upon  which  our  most  vital 
interests  turn.  They  challenge  us  to  the  one  great 
adventure  in  which  all  the  energies  and  treasures 
of  life  are  most  worthily  employed. 

Our  life,  as  it  commonly  lies  before  us,  is  dis- 
torted. It  is  fragmentary  and  inconsequential. 
Social  institutions  seem  to  stand  in  isolation  and 
to  go  on  independently  of  each  other.  People 
look  at  educational  institutions  and  say,  "Knowl- 
edge is  here."  They  go  to  the  bureau  of  charities 
and  exclaim,  "Good  deeds  are  here."  They  go 
to  the  drama  and  say,  "The  arts  are  here."  It  is 
true  that  the  school  communicates  intelligence, 
the  bureau  of  charities  administers  aid,  and  the 
stage  is  the  dramatization  of  human  experience. 
But  none  of  these  is  adequate  by  itself.  They 
need  to  be  brought  together,  to  be  unified,  to  be 
given  organic  relation  to  a  total  life  process.  Re- 
ligion has  always  sought  to  achieve  such  unity 
and  to  make  it  effective,  in  fact  and  in  symbol. 

121 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

The  Church  is  beginning  to  fulfill  once  more  this 
ancient  function.  It  is  claiming  the  august  and 
significant  place  which  it  once  occupied,  but  it 
does  so  in  a  new  spirit  and  in  ampler  fashion. 
More  than  any  other  institution,  it  seeks  to  com- 
bine all  ideal  interests  and  to  make  them  vital  for 
individuals  of  all  types  and  classes.  He  is  not  re- 
ligious who  is  just  intellectual  or  merely  philan- 
thropic, or  exclusively  artistic.  The  religious  man, 
ideally  conceived,  gathers  all  these  impulses  into 
a  living  experience,  full  of  intense  feeling,  noble 
thought  and  beautiful  expression. 

In  the  recent  holiday  season,  there  were  muni- 
cipal Christmas  trees  in  many  places  over  the 
country.  In  some  communities,  questions  arose 
as  to  whether  these  Christmas  trees  were  religious 
or  civic.  Churchmen  often  insisted  that  they  must 
be  regarded  as  religious,  while  the  civic  author- 
ities contended  that  they  were  secular.  As  a 
result  of  such  controversy,  it  may  have  hap- 
pened (as  so  often  and  so  tragically  happens) 
that  the  good  thing  itself  was  made  impossible 
by  the  contention  over  it.  But  these  Christmas 
trees  could  not  be  civic  in  the  best  sense  without 
being  religious,  nor  could  they  be  most  truly  re- 
ligious without  being  communal.  The  Christmas 

122 


RELIGION  AS  THE  QUEST  FOR  LIFE 

tree  embodies  the  ideals  of  community  life  at  its 
best.  It  is  representative  of  youth,  of  cheer,  and 
of  good  will.  It  is  a  symbol  of  the  new  civic  con- 
science, of  the  new  ideals  permeating  the  whole 
people.  Were  religion  divorced  from  civic  and 
patriotic  interests,  it  would  become  a  meaningless 
travesty.  These  two  things  are  one.  The  aspira- 
tions which  pulse  through  civic  life,  toward  neigh- 
borhood and  individual  welfare,  toward  more  ade- 
quate living,  and  more  satisfying  conditions  for 
all  the  people  of  the  community,  these  are  the 
objectives  of  religion.  They  express  the  quest  for 
life,  the  embodiment  of  the  dreams,  longings,  and 
aspirations  of  our  nature,  upon  which  religion 
founds  itself  and  upon  which  alone  it  can  keep 
itself  fresh,  vital,  and  significant. 

This  ancient  yet  ever  present  quest  for  life  re- 
news itself  in  our  experience  to-day  and  promises 
a  fulfillment  such  as  it  has  never  had  before,  a  ful- 
fillment in  which  human  aspiration,  freer  from 
prejudice  and  from  pettiness  and  triviality,  will 
rise  to  a  new  dignity  and  express  itself  in  more 
commanding,  satisfying  forms  of  art.  Then  re- 
ligion will  speak  more  urgently  to  men's  souls, 
will  inspire  them  anew,  and  will  gather  them  into 
its  holy  places  for  refreshment  and  comfort,  for 

123 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

inspiration  and  hope.  To  religion,  men  will  con- 
tinue to  turn  to  know  what  they  ought  to  do, 
what  they  should  believe,  and  to  anticipate  in 
imagination  the  fulfillment  of  the  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  love. 


WHAT   IS  THE   WORD   OF  GOD? 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

The  word  is  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart, 
that  thou  mayest  do  it.  Deut.  xxx,  14. 

THE  text  belongs  to  an  age  when  the  word  of  God 
was  not  identified  with  a  book  or  a  compilation 
of  books,  so  much  as  with  the  living  voice  of  con- 
science and  aspiration.  Although  written  records 
existed  of  which  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  itself 
is  a  notable  example,  yet  the  "word"  was  pri- 
marily something  spoken.  It  was  vocal  and  vi- 
brant. The  criteria  by  which  these  words  of  the 
mind's  flowing  thought  are  tested  cannot  be  the 
same  as  the  criteria  usually  employed  to  deter- 
mine the  genuineness  of  documents.  After  one  has 
discovered  the  age  of  a  written  record,  its  author- 
ship and  its  literary  construction,  one  has  yet  to 
ask  its  meaning  and  its  value.  The  words  must  be 
made  vocal  again  and  allowed  to  speak  to  the 
mind  and  heart  as  they  did  to  the  first  men  who 
cherished  them. 

The  Bible  does  not  claim  to  present  all  truth. 
Even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the  books 
necessary  for  that.  Nor  is  everything  which  the 

127 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Bible  records,  true.  The  earth  is  not  flat  and  the 
world  is  not  likely  to  come  to  an  end  soon.  The 
Bible,  like  all  other  great  collections  of  books, 
contains  divine  words  among  many  which  are  not 
divine.  It  does  not  distinguish  these  by  any  in- 
fallible marks  and  we  are  forced  to  seek  out  for 
ourselves  some  means  of  determining  their  value. 
We  need  tests  which  are  applicable,  not  only  to 
the  Bible,  but  also  to  the  Vedas,  to  the  Koran,  to 
modern  literature,  and  to  living  oral  speech.  Our 
age  craves  practical,  empirical  tests  which  afford 
the  sense  of  reality  even  if  they  yield  results  which 
are  tentative  and  incomplete. 

The  text  itself  suggests  such  a  method  for  dis- 
covering the  true  word  of  God.  "The  word  is 
very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy 
heart."  This  assertion  may  be  taken  either  as 
descriptive  of  something  one  already  knows,  or 
as  the  means  of  discovering  what  is  not  clearly 
defined.  In  the  latter  case,  the  meaning  is  clearer 
when  the  sentence  is  inverted  to  read:  "That 
word  which  is  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth  and 
in  thy  heart"  is  the  word.  This  would  mean  that 
whatever  word  is  intimate  and  vital  and  com- 
manding is  the  true  word.  There  are  other  texts 
which  are  similarly  illuminating  when  inverted. 

128 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

Take  the  one  which  compares  the  word  of  God  to 
a  two-edged  sword.  One  here  gets  the  emphatic 
assurance  that  a  word  which  is  quick  and  powerful 
and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing 
even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit, 
and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discoverer 
of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,  is  the 
word  of  God. 

In  another  passage,  it  is  said  that  all  Scripture, 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  is  profitable  for  doc- 
trine, for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness.  In  that  form  the  statement  has 
been  the  subject  of  endless  theological  discussion. 
It  has  been  agreed  that  all  Scripture  given  by 
inspiration  should  be  profitable  in  these  ways,  but 
the  question  keeps  reappearing,  What  Scripture 
is  really  given  by  inspiration?  How  much  simpler 
it  is  to  take  the  predicate  of  the  sentence  as  a  gen- 
uine definition  of  the  subject.  Then  it  means  that 
all  Scripture  which  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  right- 
eousness is  given  by  the  inspiration  of  God. 
When  the  Psalmist  says,  "The  entrance  of  thy 
words  giveth  light,"  we  confidently  believe  him 
to  mean  that  all  light-giving  words  are  divine. 
Again,  he  exclaims,  "Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my 

129 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

feet  and  a  light  unto  my  path,"  and  we  cannot 
be  mistaken  if  we  conclude  that  whatever  illu- 
minates our  way  and  guides  our  steps  is  thereby 
proved  to  be  divine. 

The  inversion  of  these  familiar  texts  enables 
us  to  take  our  stand  within  immediate  experi- 
ence and  to  select  as  divine  that  which  is  best  in 
that  experience.  The  author  of  Deuteronomy 
evidently  endeavored  to  impress  this  fact.  God's 
word  is  not  hidden  from  thee,  neither  is  it  far  off. 
It  is  not  in  heaven  or  beyond  the  sea.  The  di- 
vine word  is  not  a  mystery  which  only  persons 
of  peculiar  gifts  may  discover.  It  is  at  the  heart 
of  every  man's  deepest  conviction.  You  may 
call  it  conscience,  or  the  voice  of  duty,  or  one's 
most  ideal  interest,  or  one's  notion  of  being  a 
gentleman.  It  is  not  the  exclusive  possession  of 
great  men,  or  of  fortunate  men,  or  of  learned  men. 
It  certainly  is  not  the  prerogative  of  "psychics," 
or  of  neurotics,  or  of  ignoramuses.  It  speaks  in 
every  heart.  All  appeals  to  the  masses  presuppose 
their  capacity  to  hear  it.  All  education  strives 
to  quicken  the  power  of  the  common  mind  to 
appreciate  it.  All  religion  which  is  vital  and 
satisfying  speaks  and  understands  this  univer- 
sal language. 

130 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

The  text  gives  a  characterization  of  the  divine 
word  by  which  it  may  be  distinguished  and  recog- 
nized. It  is  intimate  and  vital;  it  is  warm  with 
the  heart's  burning  passion;  it  is  capable  of  ful- 
fillment in  noble  action.  These  qualities  may  be 
variously  paraphrased.  Three  terms  from  our 
daily  experience  are  here  selected.  They  are  in- 
tended to  emphasize  that  nearness  and  depth  and 
utility  of  the  inspired  word  which  so  impressed 
the  writer  of  Deuteronomy.  We  may  affirm  then, 
that  the  word  of  God  is  serious;  that  it  is  sane; 
and  that  it  is  enduring. 

The  word  of  God  is  a  serious  word.  It  is  earn- 
est and  important.  It  cannot  be  insincere  nor 
idle  nor  capricious.  Small  talk  and  curious  gos- 
sip do  not  utter  it.  The  serious  word  concerns 
our  main  purposes,  the  ends  and  interests  with 
which  we  feel  our  deeper  selves  involved.  The 
lighter  moods  are  natural  enough  and  quite  inev- 
itable. Much  may  be  said  in  then*  behalf.  Man's 
life  is  not  all  of  a  piece.  One  cannot  always 
be  his  best  and  greatest  self.  There  are  lesser 
selves  which  take  their  turns.  In  many  moments 
we  are  only  at  play.  We  assume  a  r6le.  We  jest. 
We  play  the  Devil's  advocate.  In  each  charac- 
ter one  hears  and  speaks  the  language  which 

131 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

that  character  demands.  Nor  are  these  charac- 
ters confused.  Every  one  knows  how  to  allow 
for  casual  remarks  at  tea-parties  and  on  gala 
days.  But  when  the  hour  strikes,  the  player 
throws  aside  the  mask  and  resumes  the  serious 
task.  He  is  again  in  earnest  and  his  will  strives 
once  more  toward  its  goal.  Now  the  greater 
words  are  demanded.  There  must  be  no  false 
commands,  nor  any  failure  to  respond.  Noth- 
ing but  the  truth  will  satisfy.  The  words  spoken 
by  a  business  man  over  his  desk  in  his  busy  hours 
have  the  edge  and  thrust  of  reality.  His  person- 
ality is  stamped  on  them.  He  must  redeem  them 
later.  So  it  is  with  the  locomotive  engineer  at  the 
throttle.  So  it  is  with  the  physician  bending  over 
his  patient.  Each,  at  his  task,  devoutly  attends 
to  all  that  he  hears  and  urgently  seeks  the  truest 
word  which  can  be  found.  Such  words  have  struc- 
ture and  stability.  When  weighed  against  the 
drifting  images  of  reverie,  they  are  real  and  sub- 
stantial. 

The  greater  the  crisis,  the  more  important  words 
become.  When  Moses  had  brought  the  Israelites 
within  sight  of  the  promised  land,  he  was  required 
to  let  them  go  forward  without  him.  He  had  led 
them  through  hunger  and  plague  and  war.  Many 

132 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

times  they  had  lost  heart  and  rebelled.  How 
could  these  wayward,  impulsive  people  be  made 
loyal  and  courageous  for  the  task  before  them? 
The  writer  of  Deuteronomy  saw  that  moment  in 
all  its  tremulous  urgency.  He  felt  that  it  was  of 
vast  and  cosmic  significance.  Heaven  and  earth 
were  called  to  witness.  It  was  an  occasion  of  life 
and  death,  of  blessing  and  cursing,  a  moment  for 
the  word  of  the  ancient  covenant  and  of  the 
inmost  conscience  to  be  recognized  as  the  very 
word  of  God. 

In  the  crises  of  personal  history,  also,  the  se- 
rious things  are  said.  On  the  day  when  the  son 
is  leaving  home  to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  open 
places  of  the  world,  the  father  yearns  to  sink  a 
word  deep  into  the  boy's  heart.  It  is  likely  to  be 
the  word  he  heard  from  his  father,  which  experi- 
ence has  only  enhanced  and  brightened.  Or  it  is 
the  word  which  good  friends  speak  to  each  other 
in  the  mellow  moods  of  comradeship.  The  trust- 
ful, confiding  hour  in  which  souls  unburden  them- 
selves and  hold  no  reservations  is  the  hour  of 
divine  speech.  There  is  a  peculiar  quality  of  tone 
and  accent  at  such  moments  which  baffles  all  de- 
scription, but  it  is  the  quality  known  to  the  heart 
itself.  One  sometimes  suddenly  becomes  aware 

133 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

of  this  deeper  note  of  candor  and  sincerity  in  a 
conversation.  At  first,  there  is  the  casual  air, 
the  natural  remoteness  and  austerity  which  is  the 
conventional  habit  of  civil  folk.  Without  any 
warning  or  conscious  intent,  at  the  mention  of  a 
name  or  a  past  event,  the  real  communion  of 
souls  sets  in.  By  a  strange  shift,  not  unlike  the 
half-pleasant  sensation  of  being  lowered  quickly 
in  an  elevator,  the  conversation  descends  to  a 
profounder  depth.  No  extraneous  assurances  are 
asked  or  given.  The  two  souls  are  sure  of  each 
other  directly  and  unhesitatingly.  The  word 
they  convey  and  cherish  in  subdued  breath,  but 
with  inner  abandon,  is  a  word  with  a  divine  seri- 
ousness and  charm.  In  after  moments  they  will 
remember  it.  In  periods  of  silence  and  loneliness 
that  memory  will  radiate  warmth  and  healing 
light. 

This  depth  and  intensity  of  meaning  is  the  reli- 
gious quality.  Nowhere  is  it  profounder  than  in 
that  crucial  moment  when  the  troubled  soul,  con- 
scious of  its  guilt  and  sincerely  penitent,  hears  the 
words  of  forgiveness  and  comfort.  When  the 
child,  disregarding  his  father's  will,  and,  suffering 
in  folly  and  waywardness,  comes  to  himself  and 
turns  back  toward  the  outstretched  arms  of  love 

134 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

then  he  begins  to  know  what  the  word  of  God  is. 
It  is  the  word  of  compassion  and  pity  which  a  hu- 
man father  finds  welling  up  in  his  heart  for  the 
son  that  was  lost  and  is  found.  It  is  the  word 
which  reconciles  estranged  friends.  That  word 
works  miracles  in  him  who  utters  it  and  in  him 
who  receives  it.  No  other  sign  is  necessary.  It 
carries  its  own  evidence.  The  joy  which  flows 
from  it  proves  its  nature.  The  peace  and  power 
which  it  brings  are  marks  of  its  divinity. 

Jesus  seemed  at  times  to  be  amazed  at  the 
words  of  compassion  and  assurance  which  He 
spoke  to  the  wayward  and  the  weak.  They  were 
not  his  own  but  another's.  "The  words  that  I 
speak  unto  you  I  speak  not  of  myself."  "The 
word  which  ye  hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's 
who  sent  me."  That  is  the  natural  impression 
every  sensitive  mind  still  receives  upon  reading 
the  conversations  of  Jesus  at  the  supreme  crises 
of  life.  We  still  cherish  what  He  said  to  mothers 
about  their  little  ones;  what  He  said  to  young 
men  seeking  eternal  life;  what  He  said  to  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden;  what  He  said  to  the  mul- 
titudes on  the  mountain  at  the  beginning  of  his 
ministry;  and  what  He  said  at  last  from  the 
cross  itself. 

135 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

The  word  of  God  is  a  sane  and  solving  word. 
It  is  not  the  utterance  of  haste  or  anger.  Nor 
is  it  the  exclamation  of  the  mystic  or  the  eccentric 
person.  Deliberation  and  consistency  belong  to 
it.  The  divine  word  gives  light.  It  shows  the  way 
and  reveals  the  path. 

On  this  account,  the  Beatitudes  are  divine 
words.  They  are  guides  to  happiness  and  to 
blessedness.  Men  crave  satisfaction.  They  seek 
the  way  to  it.  In  their  confusion  and  short- 
sightedness, they  ponder  over  the  problem.  The 
books  of  religion  and  philosophy  are  multiplied 
in  the  search.  Many  vain  and  empty  words  con- 
cerning it  are  spoken  by  false  prophets  and  by 
blind  guides.  These  words  of  Jesus  are  novel  with 
the  grace  of  simplicity  and  the  charm  of  solving 
wisdom.  They  reaffirm  the  clearest  lessons  of 
experience,  namely,  that  docile  and  reverent 
souls  possess  the  means  of  true  power;  that  eager 
and  hungry  spirits  gain  spiritual  satisfactions; 
that  to  the  merciful,  mercy  is  given  and  that  the 
pure  in  heart  see  God.  Christianity  is  itself  good 
proof  of  the  validity  of  these  sayings,  for  it  has 
always  been  most  completely  satisfying  and  most 
successful  when  it  most  adequately  exemplified 
these  principles.  The  early  Christians  often  gave 
136 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

evidence  by  their  character  that  they  had  found 
solving  answers  to  life's  deepest  needs.  "They 
were  generally  quite  commonplace  and  unim- 
portant people  with  a  treasure  in  earthen  ves- 
sels. Their  message  they  put  in  various  ways, 
with  the  aphasia  of  ill-educated  men,  who  have 
something  to  tell  that  is  far  too  big  for  any  words 
at  their  command.  But  they  were  astonishingly 
upright,  pure,  and  honest;  they  were  serious;  and 
they  had  in  themselves  inexplicable  reserves  of 
moral  force  and  a  happiness  far  beyond  anything 
that  the  world  knew." 

Experience  is  the  final  test.  The  words  which 
prove  true  are  of  God.  "And  if  thou  say  in  thine 
heart,  How  shall  we  know  the  word  which  the 
Lord  hath  not  spoken?  When  the  prophet  speak- 
eth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  if  the  thing  follow  not, 
nor  come  to  pass,  that  is  the  thing  which  the  Lord 
hath  not  spoken." 

It  is  also  evident  that  the  word  of  God  is 
found  close  to  the  living  needs  of  the  human 
heart.  The  word  men  crave  is  the  one  which  will 
be  the  solvent  for  their  present  perplexity  and 
doubt.  That  is  the  comforting  assurance  about 
the  deepest  hunger  and  thirst.  Its  very  intensity 
is  a  kind  of  guarantee  that  it  will  be  satisfied. 

137 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Sometimes  our  anxiety  is  met  by  the  warning 
that  we  are  anxious  about  the  wrong  things. 
To  have  the  direction  of  our  desires  changed  is 
often  their  best  fulfillment.  But  when  the  needs 
are  vital,  when  they  are  not  self-centered  or 
concerned  with  artificial  interests,  then  they  are 
tokens  of  truth  about  to  be  discovered.  Again 
and  again  the  prophets  of  modern  science  have  be- 
sought nature  for  knowledge  and  have  found  it. 
They  have  watched  and  waited,  they  have  delved 
and  tested,  they  have  literally  suffered  and  ago- 
nized in  the  search  for  the  cause  and  cure  of  dis- 
eases which  waste  human  life.  Again  and  again 
they  have  succeeded,  and  now  sober  men  of  sci- 
ence look  forward  to  the  elimination  and  destruc- 
tion of  all  contagious  scourges  and  plagues. 

Such  experiences  give  man  new  confidence  in 
his  arduous  pursuit  of  wisdom.  As  he  centers 
his  interest  upon  the  great  cause  of  human  wel- 
fare, he  gains  assurance  in  the  quest  for  truth. 
God  seems  to  speak  to  him  with  greater  clear- 
ness and  with  a  fuller  revelation  when  he  craves 
knowledge  which  serves  the  deepest  needs  of  men. 
Perhaps  it  is  this  which  gives  such  vitality  to  the 
movements  for  social  justice,  world  peace,  and 
universal  education.  These  mount  the  highways 

138 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

on  which  men  have  always  been  enveloped  by  the 
greatest  light.  Here  they  have  gamed  the  highest 
and  most  useful  revelations.  Here  they  have  at- 
tained sane  and  solving  words,  full  of  inexhaust- 
ible blessing  and  satisfaction. 

The  word  of  God  is  an  enduring  word.  It  en- 
dures not  because  of  any  extraneous  quality  but 
because  of  its  inherent  vitality.  It  proves  itself 
tune  after  time  in  the  life  of  successive  generations. 
It  is  cherished  like  all  useful  things  because  it 
commends  itself  directly  to  the  judgment  and  ex- 
perience of  men.  When  Jesus  spoke  to  the  com- 
mon people,  they  heard  Him  gladly.  His  stories 
went  home  to  their  hearts.  He  spoke  as  one  hav- 
ing authority.  He  knew  deeply  and  intimately 
their  needs  and  what  would  satisfy  them.  His 
sayings  have  therefore  been  repeated  from  friend 
to  friend  and  from  father  to  son.  Disciples  of 
Jesus  through  the  centuries  have  surrendered 
their  own  comfort  and  endured  untold  hardships 
in  order  to  carry  his  words  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  Any  words  which  have  this  power  to  win 
men  to  their  perpetuation,  are  worthy  to  be  called 
divine.  For  these  words  have  never  been  profit- 
able in  a  worldly  way.  At  first  hearing  they 
have  not  been  popular.  They  have  struck  at 

139 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

ancient  customs  and  ancestral  faiths;  they  have 
denounced  many  forms  of  personal  pleasure;  they 
have  imposed  burdens  and  crosses  and  still  men 
have  clung  to  them  and  passed  them  on  to  those 
they  loved. 

Words  which  commend  themselves  in  this  way 
to  the  deep  and  continuous  experience  of  men 
show  themselves  thereby  to  belong  to  the  body  of 
divine  truth.  And  any  words  which  are  heard  now 
for  the  first  time  and  shall  continue  to  repeat 
themselves  with  such  wealth  of  affection  and  such 
mastery  of  men's  wills,  may  thereby  be  known  to 
be  the  words  of  God.  If  a  scientist  makes  a  new 
experiment  in  his  laboratory  and  furnishes  a  clear 
record  of  it,  he  has  added  to  the  sum  of  knowl- 
edge. He  has  achieved  something  which  is  true 
for  everyone  else  who  is  concerned  with  that 
problem.  In  that  sense  his  discovery  is  absolutely 
and  universally  true.  And  if  hi  addition  to  being 
true,  it  is  also  of  vast  importance  to  the  welfare 
of  mankind,  as  the  discovery  of  the  cause  of  can- 
cer would  be,  then  it  takes  on  religious  signifi- 
cance and  may  be  devoutly  felt  to  be  the  very 
word  of  God. 

Those  who  believe  that  God  still  speaks  to  men 
are  able  to  find  confirmation  in  many  historical 

140 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

occasions.  For  at  these  times,  words  have  been 
spoken  which  are  so  serious,  so  solving  and  so  per- 
sistently true  to  experience  that  they  are  thereby 
judged  to  be  divine.  The  process  of  bringing  this 
word  to  clear  expression  and  full  definition  is 
often  long  and  tragic.  It  was  so  with  reference 
to  human  slavery.  Men  were  slow  to  perceive 
the  truth  about  it.  There  are  individuals  yet 
who  do  not  recognize  it,  but  there  is  no  civilized 
nation  which  has  not  put  itself  on  record  as 
to  what  the  word  of  God  is  concerning  slavery. 
Other  revelations  concerning  social  justice  are 
surely  being  given  to  those  races  which  are  most 
sincerely  endeavoring  to  find  them  and  to  live 
by  them.  It  is  not,  then,  the  mere  age  of  words 
which  proves  them.  They  must  also  have  radiat- 
ing, social  vitality.  They  must  live  in  the  minds 
of  great  souls,  affording  power  and  satisfaction. 
Unfortunately  not  all  men  strive  to  attain  and 
utilize  the  highest  forms  of  truth  any  more  than 
they  strive  for  the  highest  works  of  art.  Men  of 
base  impulses  may  deny  the  truth.  Persons  of 
irresponsible  wills  cannot  be  the  patrons  of  prac- 
tical ideals.  Those  who  have  no  hunger  or  thirst 
cannot  know  the  great  satisfactions.  Only  seri- 
ous men,  bearing  genuine  responsibilities,  are  ap- 

141 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

preciative  of  the  divine  word.  They  are  therefore 
the  ones  to  whom  it  comes.  They  are  the  bearers 
of  revelation  in  religion,  in  science  and  in  social 
justice.  They  constitute  the  successive  companies 
of  prophets.  Through  their  search  for  the  light, 
they  gain  illumination  and  they  hand  on  the 
torch  to  other  eager  hands  uplifted  to  receive  it. 
This  light,  borne  forward  by  loyal  souls  faithful 
to  the  path  it  shows,  is  the  true  and  living  light 
of  the  word  of  God. 

This  word  is  never  to  be  measured  by  the  par- 
ticular, external  form  in  which  it  comes.  It  may 
come  in  a  burning  bush,  or  in  a  dream,  or  in  the 
beautiful  personality  of  a  friend.  We  are  less 
likely  to  expect  it  in  some  strange  experience 
than  were  men  of  old.  The  commonplace,  familiar 
means  of  knowledge  have  risen  to  the  dignity  of 
heavenly  messengers.  God's  truth  emerges  out 
of  reasoned  thoughts  and  out  of  disciplined  efforts 
of  will.  It  lies  on  the  open  page  of  many  a  book. 
It  throbs  in  the  news  of  the  day.  Where  more 
clearly  may  one  find  the  shattered  illusions  of 
mere  pleasure  or  the  agony  of  tragic  selfishness  and 
greed?  Daily  life  swells  with  the  vast  tides  of  the 
fathomless  sea  of  the  moral  universe.  Out  of  its 
depths  come  good  and  ill  in  bewildering  profusion. 

142 


WHAT  IS  THE  WORD  OF  GOD? 

But  on  every  hand  are  interpreters  and  guides, 
keepers  of  the  hard-won  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil.  The  teacher  of  little  children,  the  judge  of 
the  court  of  law,  the  artist  at  the  shrine  of  beauty 
—  each  utters  the  divine  word.  Friends  earnestly 
conversing,  mother  and  child  embracing,  lovers 
radiant  with  joy,  share  with  each  other  its  infinite 
glory  and  power. 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN 
RELIGION 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN 
RELIGION 

Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin:  And  yet  I  aay  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  Matt,  vi,  28,  29. 

Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord,  shew  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth 
us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and 
yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath 
seen  the  Father;  and  how  sayest  thou  then,  Shew  us  the  Father? 
John,  iv,  8,  9. 

THE  mystical  quality  in  life  and  religion  is  the 
charm,  the  glamour,  the  fresh  depth  and  meaning 
which  the  world  takes  on  at  times.  In  these  fine 
days  of  May,  the  experience  is  everywhere  trans- 
piring. Can  one  look  out  upon  lilac  bushes  in 
bloom  and  not  feel  the  fresh  spirit  in  the  world? 
Can  one  see  children  dancing  round  the  May- 
pole without  a  sense  of  buoyancy  and  of  the  per- 
ennial newness  of  life?  This  quality  is  experienced 
in  connection  with  the  commonest  things,  as  when 
one  views  athletes  stripped  for  the  race;  or  looks 
down  a  long,  shady  path  in  the  woods,  or  remem- 
bers such  a  path;  or  sees  a  sunset,  the  whole  west 
aflame  with  the  eternal  miracle  of  the  fading  day. 

147 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

As  you  have  gone  down  a  busy  street,  have  you 
never  seen  a  flock  of  pigeons  with  the  purple 
sheen  upon  their  necks?  Any  day  you  may  see 
goldfish  swimming  in  clear  water.  On  rainy 
nights  you  may  see  the  lamps  down  an  avenue  of 
the  city,  covering  the  wet  pavement  with  shim- 
mering figures  of  light.  Or  you  have  seen  the 
lights  along  the  far-stretching  shore  as  you  sailed 
into  the  harbor  after  long  absence  from  home. 

This  quality  is  also  felt  in  a  circle  of  friends 
round  the  hearth,  who  talk  together  intimately. 
If  they  speak  of  those  who  were  of  the  company 
in  other  days,  the  faces  come  back  to  memory. 
The  voices,  dress,  and  gestures  appear  through 
the  vista  of  years  with  all  the  old  gracious  fas- 
cination. There  is  a  mysterious,  subtle  sense  of 
their  presence,  accompanied  by  the  lifting  of  the 
horizon.  Many  have  this  sense  of  presence  and 
vanishing  horizons  when  they  gather  in  places  of 
worship,  or  when  alone  they  read  the  fourteenth 
chapter  of  John,  or  the  twenty-third  Psalm.  This 
is  the  value  of  Christ  to  myriads  of  men.  The 
thought  of  Him  brightens  the  world,  lightens  the 
burdens,  and  makes  life  radiant.  He  has  the  effect 
of  a  living,  beloved  companion.  In  his  presence 
nothing  is  dull  or  flat.  Routine  tasks  pulse  with 

148 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

interest  and  the  worn  paths  gain  beauty  and 
splendor.  "A  devout  man,"  says  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  **  beareth  everywhere  about  him  his  own 
comforter,  Jesus,  and  saith  unto  Him,  'Be  Thou 
present  with  me,  O  Lord  Jesu,  in  every  time  and 
place.'" 

Others  experience  this  depth  and  charm  of  life 
most  when  they  commune  with  God,  the  infinite 
spirit,  the  life  of  nature,  the  unworn  energy  and 
beauty  of  the  world.  To  Emerson  it  was  the  Over- 
Soul,  "  within  which  every  man's  particular  being 
is  contained  and  made  one  with  all  other;  that 
common  heart,  of  which  all  sincere  conversation 
is  the  worship,  to  which  all  right  action  is  sub- 
mission; that  overpowering  reality  which  con- 
futes our  tricks  and  talents,  and  constrains  every 
one  to  pass  for  what  he  is,  and  to  speak  from  his 
character  and  not  from  his  tongue;  and  which 
evermore  tends  and  aims  to  pass  into  our  thought 
and  hand,  and  become  wisdom  and  virtue  and 
power  and  beauty.  We  live  in  succession,  in  di- 
vision, in  parts,  in  particles.  Meantime,  within 
man  is  the  soul  of  the  whole;  the  wise  silence;  the 
universal  beauty,  to  which  every  part  and  particle 
is  equally  related;  the  eternal  ONE." 

This  is  the  mystical  quality  in  life  and  religion. 
149 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Persons  differ  greatly  with  reference  to  the  ob- 
jects which  occasion  it  and  they  differ  also  in  the 
intensity  and  frequency  of  the  experience.  It  is 
susceptible  of  cultivation,  though  it  seems  to 
come  from  afar,  independently  of  one's  will  or 
circumstance.  It  is  often  sought  in  strange  and 
inaccessible  places,  although  it  is  available  in  the 
humblest  home,  if  love  and  loyalty  dwell  there. 
This  quality  is  especially  characteristic  of  the  re- 
ligious life  just  because  religion  is  concerned  with 
the  deep  and  intimate  experiences.  Religion  puts 
little  things  in  a  big  perspective :  views  simple  acts 
of  the  moment  under  the  form  of  eternity.  It, 
therefore,  gives  play  to  the  imagination  and  to 
the  great  emotions.  Sentiments  of  wonder  and 
surprise  and  deep  tenderness  blend  in  the  mystical 
feeling.  It  is  more  than  aesthetic  delight,  for  it 
suggests  the  presence  of  the  infinite  and  the  di- 
vine. Wherever  these  emotions  and  this  sense 
of  presence  occur,  the  devout  heart  exclaims: 
"Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this  place:  this  is  none 
other  than  the  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of 
heaven." 

This  mystical  quality  flowers  out  of  all  experi- 
ence which  is  vital  and  serves  ideal  ends.  It  ac- 
companies the  fulfillment  of  all  deep-reaching, 

150 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

highly  valued  interests.  The  deeds  of  patriots  are 
aglow  with  it.  The  memory  of  heroes  begets  it. 
The  whole  nation  felt  it  yesterday  when  the 
veterans  marched  and  the  graves  of  their  com- 
rades were  embowered  once  more.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  search  for  the  springs  of  this  wistful,  in- 
spiring elevation  of  soul  beyond  and  above  the 
real  world  in  which  we  live.  Too  often  the  mystic 
has  made  just  that  vain  effort.  He  has  struggled 
and  prayed  and  disciplined  himself  to  find  the 
infinite  apart  from  everything  finite.  The  whole 
without  parts,  substance  without  form,  the  uni- 
versal without  particulars,  the  absolute  without 
anything  relative,  has  often  been  the  mystic's 
impossible  demand. 

In  the  company  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  one 
heart  was  fixed  for  a  time,  at  least,  upon  that 
illusion.  Philip  said  to  Jesus,  near  the  very  end, 
"  Shew  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us."  Jesus 
never  answered  any  one  with  a  deeper  note  of 
pained  surprise  than  when  He  replied,  "Have  I 
been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father:  and  how  sayest  thou  then,  Shew  us 
the  Father?"  The  God  of  Jesus  is  one  who  is 
revealed  in  his  children:  not  one  concealed  from 

151 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

them.  All  men  are  sons  of  God  and  every  son  re- 
veals the  nature  of^his  father.  Some  are,  indeed, 
better  sons  than  others,  and  they  show  more 
fully  what  the  nature  of  God  is,  but  it  was  the 
conviction  of  Jesus  that  the  common  man  has 
something  divine  about  him.  He  is  of  infinite 
worth,  his  soul  outweighs  all  the  world  beside,  and 
whoever  looks  upon  him  sees  the  very  image  and 
likeness  of  God.  The  purity  of  heart,  the  patient 
love,  the  toiling  energy  of  will  which  we  see  among 
the  poor  and  humble,  and  among  the  mighty  men 
of  earth,  are  the  clear  and  shining  proofs  that  the 
divine  nature  does  not  hide  itself  or  dwell  apart 
from  us. 

And  this  mystical  quality  is  attainable  through 
the  normal  powers  and  functions  of  our  human 
nature.  The  traditional  mystic  discounts  the 
senses,  saying  these  are  subject  to  illusion  and 
therefore  cannot  disclose  reality.  The  reason, 
likewise,  he  abandons  because  it  moves,  step  by 
step,  to  its  goal;  and  because  it  views  a  thing  al- 
ways in  relation  to  something  else.  At  most,  the 
senses  and  the  intellect  furnish  a  kind  of  broken 
ladder  from  which  a  leap  is  made  beyond  the  do- 
main of  reason.  The  mystics  have,  accordingly, 
been  noted  for  their  insistent  use  of  non-rational 

152 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

means,  —  dreams,  trances,  hallucinations,  and 
magic  formulae,  in  the  old  days;  and  occultism, 
hypnotism,  auto-suggestion,  "instinct,"  "intui- 
tion," and  "  feeling,"  in  the  present  day.  Yet  in 
reality  the  normal  processes  of  intelligent  action, 
of  sane  social  cooperation,  and  of  idealized  sensu- 
ous symbolism  furnish  far  more  satisfaction  and 
a  more  adequate  sense  of  God,  and  make  God 
more  available  for  well-balanced  human  beings, 
than  all  the  devices,  asceticisms,  and  emotional- 
ism of  conventional  mysticism  could  do. 

Man's  whole  being  is  involved  in  every  great 
and  satisfying  experience.  When  the  notes  of  a 
hymn,  pealing  forth  from  the  chimes  at  the  close 
of  the  day,  suddenly  transport  one  into  a  mood 
of  tenderness  and  peace,  that  mystical  effect 
involves  sense  and  imagination  and  the  long  cul- 
tural and  sentimental  associations  so  dominant 
over  the  emotions.  It  may  seem  to  be  an  effect 
quite  disproportionate  to  such  a  cause  and  it  is 
doubtless  beyond  any  scientist's  or  poet's  power 
fully  to  explain,  yet  it  has  transpired  through 
normal  means  and  within  a  widely  familiar  field 
of  experience.  We  do  not  add  to  its  meaning  by 
ignoring  its  naturalness  or  by  ascribing  it  to 
occult  causes.  Neither  do  we  lessen  its  fascina- 

153 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

tion  or  its  reality  by  a  truthful  description. 
Rather  do  we  gain  control  of  it  as  an  event  sub- 
ject to  laws  and  materials.  And  in  controlling  it, 
we  may  again  make  the  chimes  ring  and  set  the 
old  hymn  running  in  a  thousand  souls,  where  it 
wakens,  as  before,  memories  and  consolations 
and  deep  serenity. 

We  do  not  discredit  our  sense  and  our  wit  in 
order  to  attain  the  joys  yielded  by  a  sonata  or  a 
poem,  nor  should  we  suppose  it  possible  to  achieve 
the  true  blessedness  of  religion  by  suppressing 
or  transcending  our  natural  endowments.  It  is 
doubtless  the  old  assumption  of  the  essential  sin- 
fulness  and  depravity  of  human  nature  which 
has  led  so  many  mystics  to  renounce  ordinary 
knowledge  as  incompetent  to  deal  with  actual 
reality.  But  now  that  we  think  better  of  our- 
selves, we  have  more  confidence  in  our  natural 
powers,  especially  when  these  are  trained  and  ex- 
panded. The  miracles  of  science  are  so  much 
vaster  and  so  much  more  verifiable  than  the  mir- 
acles of  magic,  that  we  gain  respect  for  reason  and 
perception  and  imagination  by  which  science  dis- 
covers its  marvels  and  creates  its  phenomenal 
results.  It  is  by  means  of  these  natural  powers 
also  that  the  workaday  world  has  been  trans- 

154 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

formed.  Just  as  the  artificial  lights  that  man  has 
invented  have  carried  the  day  into  the  night  and 
have  made  fairy  gardens  out  of  places  of  abysmal 
darkness,  so  man's  more  adequate  knowledge  of 
the  moral  laws  enables  him  to  extend  their  con- 
trol over  the  world  with  a  new  wealth  of  joy  and 
beauty. 

The  romance  and  glamour  which  the  mystics 
have  sought  so  strangely  and  nourished  so  ardu- 
ously is  not  so  uncommon  and  so  delicate  a 
growth  as  they  think.  It  springs  out  of  every 
noble  companionship  and  accompanies  all  ad- 
venturous achievement.  The  mystic  of  the  con- 
ventional type  is  apparently  under  the  same 
illusion  as  the  habitual  pleasure-seeker.  The 
search  for  pleasure  is  always  disappointing  when 
one  makes  it  the  main  object.  Only  when  he  for- 
gets himself  in  some  objective  and  disinterested 
activity  does  the  pleasure-lover  find  himself  ex- 
periencing pleasure.  One  must  abandon  himself 
to  his  work,  to  nature,  to  other  people,  in  order 
to  be  happy.  And  in  like  manner,  one  must  trust 
life,  enter  into  it,  battle  for  it,  in  order  to  feel 
the  power  and  the  mystery  and  the  deep  satisfac- 
tions of  it.  Pleasure  does  not  exist  by  itself.  It 
is  always  an  accompaniment,  an  incident,  a 

155 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

by-product.  We  have  as  many  kinds  of  pleasures 
as  we  have  interests  and  activities  —  the  pleas- 
ures of  reading,  of  travel,  of  friendship,  of  work; 
but  there  is  no  pleasure  in  general  or  in  isolation. 
Similarly,  the  mystical  thrill  and  ecstasy  cannot 
be  made  an  end  in  itself.  It  is  a  result,  an  ac- 
companiment, an  incident  of  all  rich  and  noble 
living.  It  is  not  something  men  are  in  danger  of 
losing  because  they  do  not  seek  it.  They  are  more 
likely  to  miss  it  by  direct  efforts  to  gain  it,  as  the 
pitiful  history  of  many  mystics  proves.  Multi- 
tudes of  other  religionists  without  any  such 
agony  of  introspection,  or  tumultuous  uncertain- 
ties of  spirit,  have  gone  nobly  forth  to  toil  for 
truth  and  for  the  gleam  of  an  ideal,  and  have 
found  their  hearts  strengthened  and  quieted  by 
conscious  oneness  with  God. 

Hence  it  turns  out  that  pleasures  come  less  to 
the  pleasure-seekers  than  to  heroes  and  patriots, 
to  toiling  mothers  and  brawny  laborers.  This 
mystical  quality  of  life  is  constantly  achieved  by 
the  plain  and  patient  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
endures  hardness  like  a  good  soldier  and  all  the 
time  rejoices  in  the  comradeship  and  in  the  vic- 
tories at  hand.  In  the  gospels  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  emphasis  is  placed  on  the  work  to  be 

156 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

done,  the  cross  to  be  borne,  the  healing  of  the 
sick,  the  cure  of  minds,  the  conquest  of  pride  and 
covetousness  and  violence.  When  the  sons  of 
Zebedee  were  brought  to  Jesus,  craving  the  hon- 
ors and  emotions  of  distinguished  places  in  his 
kingdom,  Jesus  at  once  centered  their  attention 
upon  the  immediate  duties  and  difficulties.  "  Are 
you  able,"  said  he,  to  "drink  of  the  cup  that  I 
shall  drink  of,  and  to  be  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism that  I  am  baptized  with? "  It  was  to  the 
same  mistaken  ambition  that  Jesus  said,  "He 
that  would  be  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  the 
servant  of  all."  Everywhere,  as  in  the  Beati- 
tudes, he  made  blessedness  depend  upon  purpose, 
disposition,  and  deeds.  He  never  put  the  emo- 
tional satisfaction  forward  by  itself.  He  taught 
men  to  know  the  truth,  to  do  the  divine  will,  to 
love  their  neighbors.  He  never  feared  that  life 
would  become  dull  or  stale  if  they  did  those 
things.  On  the  contrary,  they  would  have  the  sense 
of  the  divine  presence,  and  would  be  conscious 
of  citizenship  in  an  eternal  kingdom,  destined  to 
rule  eventually  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world. 

It  becomes  evident  that  one  may  appreciate 
and  experience  the  mystical  quality  in  religion 
without  becoming  a  mystic,  just  as  one  may 

157 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

respect  and  employ  reason  without  being  a  "ra- 
tionalist." There  are  many  analogies  of  this 
kind.  A  man  may  believe  in  freedom  of  thought 
and  cultivate  it  without  being  a  "freethinker." 
Many  persons  believe  in  socializing  industry  and 
politics  who  are  not  "socialists."  Possessors  of 
sentiment  are  not  all  sentimentalists  and  there 
is  as  much  contrast  between  ordinary  men  with 
capacity  for  mystical  feeling,  and  mystics  like 
Suso  and  Boehme,  as  there  is  between  men  of 
wholesome  sentiment  and  the  sentimentalists. 

But  in  their  extreme  and  frequently  pathologi- 
cal religious  development,  the  mystics  have  been 
characterized  by  a  vividness  of  feeling  and  a  sense 
of  the  infinite  worth  of  life  which  makes  them 
appear  to  have  discovered  the  great  secret  of 
power  and  contentment.  Many  persons  are  ask- 
ing to-day  for  that  secret.  They  crave  a  more 
vital,  imaginative,  and  commanding  way  of  life 
than  our  new  science  or  our  old  traditions  afford. 
Proof  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  strange  temples  of 
Oriental  cults  which  spring  up  in  our  cities;  in  the 
spread  of  many  faith-cure  and  psycho-therapeutic 
types  of  religion;  and  in  the  increase,  if  not  the 
over-elaboration,  of  ritualism  and  symbolism  on 
every  hand. 

158 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

But  there  is  a  simpler,  more  vital,  and  more 
adequate  way  of  meeting  this  need.  Emerson  has 
led  thousands  to  its  satisfaction.  He  has  accom- 
plished it  for  many  in  the  essay  on  "  Compensa- 
tion" where  he  shows  by  the  "  tools  in  our  hands, 
the  bread  in  our  basket,  the  transactions  of  the 
street,  the  farm  and  the  dwelling-house,"  that 
there  is  a  "ray  of  divinity"  in  our  life,  and  that 
we  can  discern  "  the  present  action  of  the  Soul  of 
this  world,  clean  from  all  vestige  of  tradition." 
And  so,  he  hoped,  "the  heart  of  man  might  be 
bathed  by  an  inundation  of  eternal  love."  He  set 
forth  in  new  parables  and  proverbs  the  great  con- 
ception that  every  act  and  item  of  our  life  bears 
the  nature  of  the  whole.  "The  world  globes  itself 
in  a  drop  of  dew."  "Ineffable  is  the  union  of  man 
and  God  in  every  act  of  the  soul  .  .  .  forever  and 
ever,  the  influx  of  this  better  and  universal  self  is 
new  and  unsearchable.  Ever  it  inspires  awe  and 
astonishment."  But  it  is  especially  in  noble  ac- 
tion that  man  feels  the  infinite  values  of  existence. 
"In  a  virtuous  action  I  properly  am,"  he  says; 
"in  a  virtuous  act  I  add  to  the  world."  It  is  an 
interesting  illustration  of  Emerson's  appreciation 
of  the  moral  life  as  the  way  of  serenity  and  union 
with  the  divine,  that  he  selects  from  the  volu- 

159 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

minous  writings  of  Swedenborg,  the  mystic,  this 
moral  quality.  "Swedenborg,"  he  says,  "elected 
goodness  as  the  clue  to  which  the  soul  must  cling 
in  all  this  labyrinth  of  nature.  .  .  .  Not  fate,  nor 
health,  nor  admirable  intellect;  none  can  keep 
you,  but  rectitude  only,  rectitude  forever  and 
ever." 

Christianity  is  fundamentally  a  matter  of  the 
moral  life.  All  sentiment  and  piety  and  devotions 
are  as  nothing  without  that.  Christianity  builds 
a  moral  kingdom.  It  produces  the  fruits  of  right- 
eousness. It  creates  objective,  practical,  satis- 
fying relationships,  and  summons  men  to  ever 
widening  tasks.  It  knits  together  multitudes  of 
believers  from  the  past  and  the  present  and  forms 
for  the  imagination  and  for  the  soul's  deep  affec- 
tion, the  glorious  company  of  the  apostles,  the 
goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets,  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs  —  the  holy  Church  throughout  the 
world.  The  glory  of  this  great  Church  is  not  her 
age  or  her  wealth  or  her  power,  but  her  living 
zeal  to  carry  still  further  into  her  own  life  and 
into  the  world,  her  Master's  spirit  of  goodness 
and  love.  The  Church  maintains  its  most  vigor- 
ous, vibrant  life  when  it  is  engaged  in  stupendous 
tasks.  It  was  lifted  out  of  its  provincialism  of 

160 


THE  MYSTICAL  QUALITY  IN  RELIGION 

thought  and  feeling  in  the  last  century  by  the 
great  missionary  propaganda  which  still  throbs  at 
its  heart.  It  is  being  vitalized  anew  in  our  own 
time  by  its  endeavors  toward  the  establishment 
of  social  justice  and  a  world-wide  brotherhood  of 
man.  The  Church  is  offering  to  risk  its  institu- 
tions, its  formal  dignity,  and  its  set  services  in  the 
interest  of  human  welfare,  and  in  consequence  it 
is  being  suffused  more  deeply  than  ever  with  true 
piety  and  a  sense  of  the  presence  of  God. 

The  promise  of  the  divine  companionship  is 
to  an  active,  forward-striving  Church.  The  com- 
mand and  the  promise  are,  "Go  .  .  .  and,  lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway."  It  is  as  though  Jesus  were 
saying  to  the  Church  yet:  Go,  teach:  build 
schools  and  colleges;  go,  heal  the  sick:  found 
hospitals  and  laboratories,  and  dispensaries;  go, 
love  your  neighbors :  found  settlements  and  peace 
societies  and  boards  of  arbitration  and  be  a  friend 
of  man;  go,  preach  the  gospel:  publish  the  poetry 
of  love,  dramatize  the  prodigal  son  and  the  good 
Samaritan  and  reveal  to  men  the  cross  itself  as 
the  proof  of  the  infinite  compassion  that  throbs  at 
the  heart  of  the  world,  and  the  divine  presence 
shall  be  with  you,  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  a 
pillar  of  fire  by  night. 

161 


THE  HIGHER  INDIVIDUALISM 

Thus  we  may  dare  to  hold  that  life  and  religion 
are  far  simpler  and  more  satisfying  than  the 
mystics  have  believed.  The  God  whom  they 
sought  afar  and  apart  dwells  near  and  within  — 
nearer  than  breathing,  nearer  than  hands  and 
feet.  And  knowledge  of  this  God  requires  no 
special  sense  or  second  sight.  He  walks  forth  in 
the  light  of  day.  The  pure  in  heart  see  him  in  the 
beauty  of  the  lilies  and  in  the  soul  of  man.  Wise 
men  read  his  laws  in  every  fleck  of  dust  and  in  the 
distant  stars.  He  is  here  and  now  present  in  this 
pulsing  life  we  live,  the  conscience  and  dream  of 
our  souls,  the  love  and  light  of  our  hearts.  Who- 
ever has  truly  beheld  the  Christ  of  history,  or  the 
ideal  Christ  in  any  man,  has  seen  Him.  Upon 
that  vision  he  may  rest  his  faith,  and  through  it 
he  may  look  out  upon  the  world  and  find  it  new 
and  glorious. 


THE   END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .   A 


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